The new system will reportedly involve a button which allows you to "like" an external webpage when you visit it.
In theory, it sounds good for website owners, who may benefit from increased link-sharing and traffic, and also for visitors, providing an easy way to share an interesting link with your friends.
However, the proposed addition was not without criticism.
The Financial Times rushed out an article (sorry, may be pay-only) speculating that the new system will allow Facebook to collect even more data about its users to generate targeted advertising.
Well, it turned out that was wrong and they retracted it after Facebook issued a statement saying they had no plans to change their advertising policy.
Mashable also ran with the Financial Times version in a story headlined "Facebook ads will use your web history" but updated it once contacted by Facebook representatives.
What is certain here is that targeted ads are a sore point for many - you can see the big sites (and my shameless blog) want to run it ASAP, because they know it's a talking point.
There seems to be a dominant attitude of "don't invade my privacy" on the Internet. Some people get really up in arms about it.
When something like this happens, you get screams of "They're stealing our souls!!"
A friend of mine once told me that he didn't want to buy a Snapper card (a bus-fare payment card in Wellington) because he didn't trust what they would do with the data.
Does it really matter if they know where you caught the bus this morning, what brand of cereal you like, or even in which city you live?
Hey, I harbour a few conspiracy theories myself, but I'll gladly tell you that I caught a bus in Wellington after I ate a bowl of corn flakes. How can that be used against me? So what if the ads you get are better suited to you?
In my opinion, I'd rather have ads targeted at what I'm interested in than some random item which I have a 0.0001% chance of clicking on.
Google's Gmail services also creates targeted ads from words within your emails, which has led some to think that "Google is reading your emails". Come on, get real.
With the millions of emails being sent every day do you really think human eyes are passing over each one? Targeted ads are generated through computer algorithms. No one is "reading" your emails.
Privacy is certainly a great concern for many on the internet, and it should be that way, but sometimes I feel that people are a little too worried, and about the wrong things.
Targeted advertising is not finding out where you live, what your credit card number is and that embarrassing secret you keep under your bed (I know).
It really comes down to this. Always read the terms and conditions, especially the privacy section and if you don't like it, don't use the service. It's that simple. No one is forcing you to use Facebook or Gmail, which are both free of charge.
Read the full story on Fairfax New Zealand
