It’s pretty clear that Facebook is going to have to break down and allow an opt-in system for their Beacon technology sooner rather than later.
Business Week has a big article up, and there’s some interesting information about the rock vs. hard place that Facebook finds itself in:
Even as Facebook mollifies disgruntled users, it risks rankling some of the partners that signed on in hopes of benefiting as members broadcast their purchases?say, from Blockbuster or eBay ?to a circle of friends. As part of the Beacon arrangement, partners pay for what Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg has called “trusted referrals.” The idea is that Facebook users will be more apt to patronize the sites and stores their friends are using. On Nov. 6, when he announced the system, Zuckerberg called trusted referrals the “holy grail” of advertising.
Turns out the holy grail is often easier to quest for than it is to actually find…
