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Google executive says Facebook's ads are 'pissing off users and frustrating brands'

Google executive says Facebook's ads are 'pissing off users and frustrating brands'

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via puu.sh
via puu.sh

In an interview with Business Insider, Bradley Horowitz, Google+ VP of product, told the publication that Facebook was a "social network of the past" before damning its approach to advertising. He said ads on Facebook were like someone with a sandwich board interrupting two people having a conversation by trying to sell them food. "I'm trying to communicate in that sacred space of social connection," said Horowitz, "it doesn't matter if I 'Like' the sandwich, it doesn't matter if it's personalized with my favorite mustard, that is the wrong moment to try and dangle [it] in front of me."

"Jamming these ads — agendaed, sponsored things — into users' streams is pissing off users and frustrating brands."

After informing BI that he has nothing against sandwiches — "there is a time and place for sandwiches, it's called lunch, at a restaurant" — Horowitz said that Facebook was "pissing off users and frustrating brands" by "jamming these ads" into users' streams. He claimed that Google's approach to social advertising was more holistic, explaining that rather than clogging up users feeds, its social ads accompany regular search results. Giving the example of a search for "microwave oven" yielding a Google+ recommendation from a trusted friend, Horowitz said this approach yields "tremendously valuable social recommendations."

Google+ currently has — by its own count — 100 million monthly active users, while Facebook recently celebrated crossing the one billion mark. Horowitz says he's pleased with Google+'s progress, but conceded that it "may not be the place where you go and wish your friend a happy birthday, it's not yet there."