social ads

The social-networking site Facebook may have to find another way to cash in on its huge user base. The company's new "social ads" program, called Beacon, has been controversial, forcing company founder Mark Zuckerberg (pictured here) to apologize, and tell users that they can turn it off if they like.

With Beacon, if a user bought a ticket through the movie site Fandango.com, his or her entire network would be informed. This didn't go over well. Moveon.org put together a protest and overstock.com, one of Facebook's ad partners, backed out after getting too many complaints. So, it looks like the company will keep looking for less invasive or annoying ways to generate revenue, and justify its enormous valuation. This isn't necessarily a devastating blow to Facebook, though. Some experts say the company simply needs to learn how to mind its manners, and all will be well again in its corner of Web 2.0.—Gregory Mone