Facebook have recently released a new feature that allows them to tag pages in pictures. The launch is designed to add depth to the user experience, allowing for a more accurate depiction of real life events by the allowing the ability to tag brands or celebrities. For example, if you have a photo where you are drinking from a can of Coke, then you can label the drink with a tag to Coke’s official Facebook page.
Anyone will be able to tag a page anywhere they can view a picture in the photo viewer. Once a page tagged is published to ‘everyone’ then it appears in the ‘photos’ tab of a page. These photos can be monitored by site admin, although it would seem that this has the potential to be a huge task due the amount of photo content that there is on Facebook. Although admins also have the ability to disable this feature, it does seem there is a huge potential for the spammers flaunt the system. A lack of moderation in this early stage of the process does seem to leave the door open for black hatters to manipulate the system in order to promote a product, newsletter or even spread a virus.
However, despite the security concerns, this could prove to be a great tool for internet marketers. The ability to tag a companies to take additional ownership of their brand on Facebook, it will also allow them to monitor how a brand is being represented. It also increases the potential for more advertising to take place if the brand represented is being shown in a positive light.
This does offer a great chance for brands to market their product virally as well the opportunity for Facebook to make money from the photo service it offers. At the moment it seems like a win-win situation, but time will tell if spammers can find a way to ruin this feature.
