Facebook Beacon is an advertising service that allows a user of Facebook to opt-in to a posting of a message on the user's newsfeed when performing some activity on a Facebook page or exterior website. The significance of this is it allows relevant advertisement of a product or service that is highly related to one's interests or needs due to a trusted relationship in one's social graph. This is effortless word of mouth advertisement.
I really feel that the newsfeed of Facebook is the most interesting part of the social network. I have discovered some interesting things just by looking at the activities of who I know. I actually want to know if a friend purchased, downloaded software, or visited a particular vendor. This has meaning to me.
When I first heard of Beacon, I was concerned that all of my activities would appear on the newsfeed. But if it is opt-in, I don't see a problem. One thing for sure, if this idea works out, social networks will grow like wildfire because this is effective marketing like that world has never seen before. There will be a real incentive to promote social media to the public.
