Facebook Trials Expanded Scheme For News Feed Ads

Having close to one billion users is all fine and dandy but a business needs more than popularity for popularity’s sake. In other words, it needs to make money from that massive user base.

As you may have guessed, I’m talking about Facebook, currently the supreme ruler of the social media domain. Its latest attempt to boost advertising revenues comes in the form of a trial that involves inserting ads into users’ news feeds, IT Pro reported.

While the so-called “sponsored stories” are not a novelty, they have so far been placed in the feeds of Facebook users only if they have “liked” a certain brand or product. The social network is now testing a scheme under which advertisers can target users even if their brand has not been awarded that honour. The ads will appear both on PCs and mobile phones.

A spokesperson for Facebook told IT Pro that the company had always strived to deliver social ads and it had done well in that respect. However, ads can become even more social if advertisers find it easier to reach new audiences. The spokesperson was quick to point out there would be no deluge of advertisements since Facebook had put restrictions in place. The aim is to present users with ads that are as relevant as possible, so Facebook will pay great attention to the feedback it receives to be certain that people are getting the value they expect, IT Pro was told.

Facebook provided no specifics with regard to the number of participants in the trial apart from saying it was “very small”, nor did it elaborate on the cap set for the number of sponsored stories.