Social Media = Monetization?

What does ‘being social’ mean today?

Facebook have recently announced that they are testing new ads which will appear in user’s newsfeeds whether they have or have not shown interest in the brand previously. This is without a doubt to become an increasingly great topic of debate and will change the way users see the Facebook brand once again. Originally this brand and core idea was built around being social and simply being able to keep in touch with friends and family, but now it seems that monetization is at the heart of the business strategy and forgetting about customer user experience and what being social truly means.

It also means that marketing to the masses will come back into play, as opposed to the personalisation we receive currently in more micro-segmented ads specified to our demographics, needs, interests and influencing factors.

Is this what ‘being social’ has transformed to today and has Facebook become an advertisers world rather than for the end user?