G+ names and faces working into paid listings

[littleman]

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/10/google-will-soon-put-your-face-name-and-content-in-its-ads/

Apparently this is going to happen automatically, with people having to opt out in order to not be part of G's marketing machine.

[ergophobe]

I almost never "like" products or companies. This makes me that much less likely to do so. I wonder if it will actually be good for advertisers.

[littleman]

Well, you just know that fake reviews will be making their way into new g+ accounts.  I think google's plan is to have advertisers fuel g+.

[rcjordan]

The sumbitches need somebody to fuel it. It's embarrassing. But this smacks of frog-marching. I plan to revolt.

[Rooftop]

I don't agree that it's embarrassing / struggling at all.  It's take-up is unevenly spread, but anyone still saying it is a ghost town has clearly not taken long enough to actually work out how to use it.

It's not facebook. If average Joe signs up, imports contacts and then expects updates from their old school mates, brother, mum and cat then they will likely be disappointed. However there  it's a great collection of niche communities and good take up in more technical sectors.

Growing too. The amount if crap appearing is enough to show that is is going mainstream.

One thing about the faces in ads that people are over looking is that they will also show 'endorsements' from pages too. So, unless you want your company/site