Advertising on user profiles - to do or not to do?
Bebo has indicated that it won’t be making user profiles available for marketing purposes, which is a tactic Facebook has recently adopted, to the dismay of some.
There is certainly a recognition that doing things that exploit users is not advantageous. In the past it was possible for companies (in all markets, not just websites) to exploit their users because of the lack of consumer choice (competitors with laregly similar offerings), but today when competitors spring from nothing to come to the fore you can’t piss of your users or they will flee. What companies need to always do is focus on what value they can give or share with their users. When users are getting value they are happy for the host to make money.