Facebook knows a lot about me. It knows where I live, what my activities and interests are, what music and movies I like, and a lot more. So why do I rarely see an ad that is relevant to me in my newsfeed?

Apparently I am not alone. While Dynamic Logic’s AdReaction® 2007 study found that most people were ambivalent to the idea of advertising on social network sites, a recent survey by Prospectiv found that nearly 9 in 10 social network users found few (or none) of the ads they saw to be interesting or relevant.

Where will marketing be 40 years from now? Someone just posed that question to me. Of course no one knows the answer, but I am hoping that together we can assemble a few ideas. I have listed some ideas on the topic in this post and I hope that they may provoke you to add your thoughts too.

In spite of the prognostications of Raymond Kurzweil, I do not believe that in 40 years we will all be scanned and living in virtual reality full-time. I’ll be happy if someone can finally come up with a form of flying personal transport that works. People have already been working on that for more than forty years.

Recently, a number of ads have been the subject of controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. Ads for candy bars, casual dining restaurants, and mobile phones have all offended people, for rather different reasons. It makes me wonder who really benefits from the resultant furor. Is it the advertiser or the outraged?

The ad pulled by Mars actually caused little controversy in the U.K. where it aired. A male speedwalker in tight yellow shorts is subject to a spray of Snickers bars fired out of a machine gun by Mr. T, who derides the speedwalker as "a disgrace to the man race." The ad, which closes with the tagline "Snickers. Get Some Nuts," created a storm of controversy in the United States for allegedly condoning violence against gays.

Americans squeezed by rising prices for food and fuel are starting to change their spending habits. In the last couple of years, Americans spent more than 50 percent of food expenditures away from home, but recent news suggest that spending patterns on dining out are shifting. This week the news came out that two chains owned by the Metromedia Restaurant Group, Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale, filed for bankruptcy and closed their nearly 300 locations. (Click here for article.)

An interesting question was posed to me today: Is there an inherent risk to a brand in becoming too big?  Now I have always believed that there is an innate tension between the scale of a business and its ability to maintain a strong brand. As a company grows, it becomes harder and harder for it to maintain the same focus and commitment that existed when the enterprise was small. (Think Starbucks.) But is it also true that sheer size can undermine the strength of a brand’s relationship with its consumers? I am going to throw out some thoughts and would love to hear yours.