[Infowarrior] - Facebook Friends Used in Ads

[Richard Forno]

Facebook Friends Used in Ads

By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576104532107484922.html

Some of what Facebook Inc. users post to the social network will soon start showing up in ads aimed at their friends.

The company, as part of an effort dubbed "sponsored stories," plans to allow advertisers to buy and re-publish Facebook messages that users voluntarily post about brands—such as a check-in at a local coffee shop or a product on a shopping site for which a user clicks the site's "like" button.

 
Facebook, looking to develop revenue streams beyond advertising, will require all game developers to use its in-house Credits payment system. Geoffrey Fowler joins Digits to discuss. Plus: your Facebook 'Likes' as paid ads?

The sponsored stories are exact copies of the likes, comments and location check-ins that users already post to their own walls, and already show up in their friends' home page news feeds. The difference is that sponsored posts will get plucked out and posted again on the top right-hand column of the home page next to other ads. Sponsoring a post increases the chance friends will notice it, since new postings in the news feed push others down and off the page. The user's name and photo appears in the ad.

Facebook said the sponsored stories are all labeled as such. Users won't get any special notification that their posts have been sponsored and used as ads, and there's no option for users to opt out of the service.

Jim Squires, a lead on Facebook's product marketing team, said Facebook would ensure that it obeys all privacy and sharing settings—so a sponsored story would only show up to users that were supposed to see the original post. Since users are in control of what they post to their friends, the fact that some posts are sponsored doesn't change that dynamic, he argued.

"Currently, marketers don't have the ability to know or plan word-of-mouth endorsements as part of their campaigns," Mr. Squires said. "This gives a way for marketers to increase the visibility of stories about their organization… "this is word-of-mouth marketing at scale."

Facebook has been testing the ad format for three months, and it is launching with brands including Coca-Cola, Levis and Unicef.

Mr. Squires said the service is good for both advertisers and users. Facebook's tests found it was a "very positive thing for users," he said. Facebook's tests have found that users get more out of hearing about products their friends are interested in than they do out of generic banner ads.

Advertisers won't get the chance to edit users' posts before they show up, though they can be flagged for offensive content. While a check-in or post could ostensibly include a bad review of a company, Facebook says the vast majority of posts are positive.

Michael Lazerow, the CEO of Facebook marketing firm Buddy Media said the new ad format is a "very big deal."

"When you see your friends in anything, you are going to be drawn there," he said. Several of his clients have already signed up, he said, because they're looking for ways to "turn up the volume" of their word-of-mouth marketing efforts on Facebook.


Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704013604576104532107484922.html#ixzz1C9e8ELcw