ratingfbads.jpgAccording to ReadWriteWeb, Facebook has quietly added the ability for users to vote up or down on ads. RWW rightly calls the majority of advertising on Facebook crap. I couldn’t agree more. I spent the day giving thumbs down to the majority of the ads I saw. The lack of targeted, relevant advertising is stunning for a company with a valuation north of $15 billion.

Geo-targeted ads, where the content of the ad is specific to your zipcode, are quite common these days. Unfortunately the lions share of geo-targeted ads are limited to dating sites. The ad you see here is somewhat relevant. I’m single and in my 30′s, but the next ad could just as likely be for hair-loss.

One thing I have noticed lately is that social networks about fishing have showed up more often. I guess I have fishing mentioned somewhere in my profile. However, I’m disappointed that I talked about going fishing on Cape Cod at least a dozen times on Facebook and not once did I see an ad with an offer local to the Cape. Talk about a lost opportunity. I purchased a ton of fishing gear before the trip, and not one dollar was earned via a web ad. Yet ads for hot women in Boston show up daily because that’s where money is in the eyes of advertisers.

How much of this can be attributed to the lack of mature targeting services on Facebook? We know their application interface leaves a lot to be desired for developers. I’ll have to take a look at what information is available to advertisers.

Soon I’ll be talking about how social networking profiles contain a wealth of information about members that isn’t being fully utilized for targeting purposes, intention and attention-based marketing. This is what’s coming next in the world of social media and online advertising.