Show Me The Money: Facebook Tests Engagement Ads August 22, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , trackbackIn what it calls the latest “evolution” of its ad model, Facebook is testing a new set of ads aimed at boosting click-throughs and further tapping into the social graph on behalf of marketers. The first three types of Engagement Ads now in trial let users post comments, become a “fan” of a brand’s Facebook Page and send virtual gifts. Within the units, people can also read friends’ comments, and see who else is a brand fan or who shared virtual items. All three flavors of Engagement Ads will appear in the new home page placement alongside the News Feed on the right. They will also show up in members’ News Feeds as people interact with the ads. The new Engagement Ads build on Facebook’s Social Ads, which typically appear in the News Feed and allow marketers to run ads tied to users’ actions within the network. This includes actions that people take on branded applications running in Facebook. Within Social Ads, Facebook is also rolling out a new program that would allow marketers to pay to expand the number of friends who learn about a user’s interaction with an application. Currently, Facebook uses an algorithm to figure out who among a user’s friends would be most interested in learning about a given activity. Under the new plan, marketers would have the option of sending a sponsored notification (marked as such) to all of a members’ friends. So if someone used a Fandango app to buy tickets to see “Pineapple Express,” Fandango and Sony Pictures could pay to tell all of their friends on Facebook about it. The social network triggered a privacy backlash last year when it launched its Beacon ad program, which notified members about their friends’ e-commerce activity outside Facebook. The company revised Beacon to require members’ opt-in consent, but the program was the subject of a class action filed only last week. In a briefing Thursday on the new ad initiatives, Tim Kendall, Facebook’s director of monetization, said the new Social Ads program would avoid the same privacy problems as Beacon because it only relates to users’ activities within Facebook.
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