Well, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO had one thing right.  There is no more powerful force than influencer marketing and word of mouth advertising.

What Zuckerberg had wrong was that people wanted to make buzz marketing recommendations without their approval.

So, after just three short weeks and a rising chorus of public outcry, Facebook has modified it's social ad initiative.  As reported in Mediaweek and other sources, Facebook gave into the campaign spearheaded by Moveon.org to fix their disclosure discrepancy.  The big issue?  Beacon was not well explained and it was very difficult to opt out.  Now, users must proactively consent to alert their friends about their on-line purchases.

Yes.  It's another social media stumble by a large company that ought to know better.  But it's a long list and getting longer.  Organizations, however, can be reminded of some influencer driven word of mouth marketing basics. Shill marketing, non-transparency and non-disclosure will not be tolerated.  And you'll get caught.

Do it right, though, and you'll be rewarded with the holy grail for you product: a genuine word of mouth recommendation.