Deja Vu: Google Testing Ads On Orkut (Again)

(Image Credit: Rahul Bansal of Devils Workshop)

Rahul of Devils Workshop has recently spotted Google ads on an Orkut profile of another user.

If this sounds like deja vu, that's because Google previously rolled out AdSense on Orkut, before removing them from their social network.

From the images (provided by Rahul), Orkut seems to be placing the ads in a much better position than Facebook (who places them at the very bottom of the page), without the "overkill" that one often sees upon MySpace.

While I realize not everyone enjoys viewing these ads on Orkut, I do think that having them is a good idea as it helps cover the cost of hosting our content (which translates into Google launching even better services for Orkut).

Placing ads on profiles however may be "slightly controversial," and it may be wise for Google to instead place ads next to orkut's universal search, a feature they launched last year.

Google should also consider sharing the revenue with forum owners (although they should give them the option of whether or not they want ads displaying in their communities).

Hopefully Google keeps the ads this time, as I have found them to be quite useful, especially when Google fails to find the item you are looking for (cough, refurbished iPhone, cough).

Note: If anybody else is able to view these ads, let me know by blogging about it and providing a link below in the comment section for "the rest of us." :-)