

It only took a few weeks for Facebook to squander the good will of its users on a poorly planned advertising platform. Now Facebook has also reportedly blown it with a few key advertisers, including Overstock.com, Coca Cola and Travelocity.

Facebook's ad platform, called Beacon, was launched last month and almost immediately enraged users, thanks to a pretty objectionable notification system: When Facebook members purchased items on certain external sites, their friends were notified of the transactions, often without their permission. A chorus of Facebook users complained (the most vocal of which was MoveOn.org) leading Facebook to change the system last week, so users now have more say as to whether their purchases are made public.

Still, the damage may be done with advertisers. Reports suggest Travelocity has yet to start using Beacon yet, Coca Cola has put it on hold, and Overstock.com pulled out of Beacon a couple weeks ago, according to spokesman Judd Bagley.

"We are big fans of letting Overstock customers notify their friends of things they've bought on Overstock, but only if they intend to," Bagley said.

Bagley added that Overstock may consider joining the network if the necessary changes are made to Beacon.

Facebook, Travelocity and Coca Cola weren't immediately available for comment.

UPDATE: We got a statement from Travelocity spokesman Joel Frey, who says the company plans to go ahead with Beacon.

"While the Beacon program still has not gone live on Travelocity, we have been in constant communication with Facebook and did encourage them to make the key changes to Beacon that they implemented last week. We feel comfortable with last week's changes and are moving forward to launch on Travelocity as planned."

UPDATE: Coca Cola spokeswoman Susan Stribling also chimes in that "absolutely nothing has changed with [Coca Cola's] relationship with Facebook."

"We weren't planning to launch with Beacon in the first place," Stribling says. "It doesn't imply that we won't use Beacon in the future."

Image: Flickr/SGD

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