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Blog Entry 7 of 24 My Life: Beer and Blogs
I'm a new media guy who happens to live in the Napa Valley of beer. This blog will chronicle my adventures through beers, blogs and everything else. Cheers!

An encounter with the much ballyhooed Beacon
Contributed by: Justinian Hatfield   on 12/15/2007

Tangentially related to this post is my first encounter with the talk of the blogosphere over the last couple of weeks - Facebook's Beacon advertising program.

When I bought our tickets to see The Golden Compass on Fandango, I was surprised to see a little drawer open up in the bottom right corner of my Browser. The message inside said something to the effect of "Your purchase has been added to your Facebook newsfeed." Ah, so this is what everyone has been talking about.

After printing my tickets, I head over to Facebook and sure enough, there was a message asking me, if I would like to add "Justinian bought The Golden Compass on Fandango."

I went ahead and approved the post, but I can see how it could really be an invasion of privacy if (as originally designed) they didn't give you the option to decline the addition.

As a Web Geek, I was fascinated by the integration of the two sites. I can only assume that Fandango searches Facebook's user database for email addresses that match users in its database. From a user perspective, the integration is seamless, but at the same time a little disconcerting.




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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments
Submitted By: Justinian Hatfield
posted on 12/17/2007 @ 10:53:31 AM
(Not Rated)
Really? I love the newsfeed. Can't live without it!
Submitted By: Erin Feese
posted on 12/17/2007 @ 10:15:28 AM
Rated Blog Entry
I do like facebook, but I think there is now too much "stuff" you can add to your profile -- that's pretty crazy that it can broadcast what movie tickets you bought. Although you are right, Justinian, that it keeps it new and fresh. I still hate that darn newsfeed business, though.
Submitted By: Justinian Hatfield
posted on 12/16/2007 @ 1:09:38 PM
(Not Rated)
Yeah, a day doesn't go by where I don't get asked to add another app. While it can be annoying at time, it gives Facebook a freshness that other social networking sites can't match.
Submitted By: John Zwick
posted on 12/16/2007 @ 1:04:31 PM
Rated Blog Entry
Facebook is doing some really awesome stuff with its API, but the corporate incentive for making stuff right now is leading to some really crass apps. Hopefully someone comes along with an easily-mimmicked idea that lets companies leverage facebook without turning off users like that.
Submitted By: Justinian Hatfield
posted on 12/16/2007 @ 9:12:43 AM
(Not Rated)
Yeah, that creeps me out, too. But it's fascinating to compare two stores in two totally different neighborhoods and see the contrasting kind of stuff they carry.
Submitted By: Karin Malchow
posted on 12/15/2007 @ 10:46:42 AM
Rated Blog Entry
I pretty much live a No Secrets life, but this kind of stuff creeps me out. I still haven't adjusted to grocery store cards keeping track of purchase history.
Showing 1-6 of 6 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Justinian Hatfield

Lakewood , CO

Justinian Hatfield has posted 24 blog entries and 51 comments since joining on 7/12/2006. Justinian Hatfield's average blog rating is 5.
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