Heidi recently posted a blog (Facebook draws a bullseye on your profile) about how Facebook is allowing those who use their new PPC product, Flyers Pro, to target certain demographics on Facebook.

It’s no surprise then that MySpace has announced that has been dabbling with allowing advertisers to target a much more select group of users according to the users’ tastes, according to ioltechnology.co.za’s article, MySpace launches targeted ad program. Apparently they have been experimenting with this idea since July.

The move allows advertisers to target users’ profiles who have specific keywords in certain categories. It fits capitalist logic perfectly; if you have the information, use it to your benefit. With a fierce battle raging between social networking sites, especially with the announcement of Yahoo!’s Mash, MySpace offers an advantage to advertisers.

I just wonder why they hadn’t thought of this sooner, especially News Corporation. What they have is effectively the largest market research database in the world of people’s likes and dislikes - categorically arranged according to different demographics. To top all of this off, the database is constantly being updated by the users. It’s a market researcher’s wet dream.

Interestingly enough, I do recall a rather ironic PPC advertisement on my Squirrel Association of Newlands MySpace homepage (a squirrel conservation group) advertising squirrel hunting. This was some months back though, so hopefully they’ve fine-tuned the filters a little better!