ICQ: Fly Ads\Users Away

ICQ is launching a new advertising platform, called Broadcast To User (B2U) which enables broadcasting commercials while users are chatting on real time. The commercial is broadcasted to the dialog window after one of the users has sent a message and is waiting to a response from his counterpart. After an appearance of 10-17 seconds, the commercial gets smaller into the size of an icon and remains on the top right of the dialog window, serving as a link to the advertising company. ICQ people see this new platform as a powerful tool to have a real dialog with their wide audience of teen users.

Picture yourself the following situation: you’re IM-ing about some private stuff with your friend. Let’s say you’re crying about a not-so-long-ago break up from your b\g-friend. And there you have ads popping on your dialog screen, preventing you from seeing the last sentences you just wrote. After 10-17 seconds, the ads fly to the side of the text - but stick there. How would you feel about that? -pissed off that’s how! You get ads on the banner (I can live with that), on the message banner, on the contact list, on the welcome screen (they should have a law against that annoying thing), on the extraz page and now instead of your conversation text you’ll get flying ads! Doesn’t that remind you those hideous pop ups before the days of Google AdWords?

I don't see how this brings ICQ any closer to "having a dialog with their teenage users". All they really tell them is "fly away to other messengers"!

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