Facebook introduces Sponsored Story Advertising

Facebook Advertising

It has been reported that early next year, Facebook will introduce sponsored story adverts into users’ news feeds. If the change goes ahead, without doubt the move will give advertisers the opportunity to raise brand awareness on the social networking site.

Rather than relying on a user to visit that brands specific facebook page, the new format will deliver brand information via users news feeds. The change brings Facebook’s Sponsored Story ad format more in line with that of rival social network Twitter, which offers brands sponsored tweets and sponsored accounts that appear on users’ timelines.

Facebook first introduced the Sponsored Story ad format in January, which appeared as small images and text on the right-hand side of the page. It has since extended into the rolling ticker feed of activity that appears on the top right-hand side of the page.
Some users have responded to the move with criticism, complaining that their use of facebook should not be used compromised for commercial gain. It has also been argued that delivering the sponsored story suggests that a friend or user endorses that particular companies products and services, which won’t necessarily be the case.

Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that endorsements from friends are “two to three times” more valuable than generic ads sold on Facebook.

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