Facebook Plans To Show Ads On Websites

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook is planning to compete directly with Google by working on an update for its ad platform. Facebook will be offering webmasters to place facebook ads on their websites."

Comments

Good

[ciderbrew]

Maybe it will die as a product and I can go back to using something better for organising events with people. One large message box sure is fun.

Re:Good

[gnick]

I think that's a normal life-cycle.

Have a good idea, promote it, get popular, get ingrained with your users, cash in, cash out, die. Seems to work.

Re:Good

[swanzilla]

Though arguably evil, Facebook is by no means a necessary evil. You are free to organize as you wish.

Re:Good

[ciderbrew]

^ Yeap. I am free to organize as i wish, but I wouldn't be able to talk to the people I need to. Face book is great for one to many; but it is awful for many to many and oh I just need to subdivide that bit of many into two bits. etc. ect... tce...

Re:Good

[Wiarumas]

I think Facebook is much more than a website for organizing events with people. I'd like to see the stats, but I'd assume a minority of users actually use that functionality consistenty. The appeal of facebook is that it is a collective hub of the social statuses of all your friends, acquaintences, enemies, rivals, etc and a soapbox for an individual to stand up on every once and a while. Want to know what your old friend from High School is up to - oh he has kids now. Remember that hot cheerleader from college - oh got ugly and is unemployed. Remember that girl that broke your heart? She is single and depressed while you are happily married. Yes, it is that shallow of a service, but at the truth of it, so is mankind and society and I don't see Facebook going anywhere anytime soon.

Re:Good

[Jugalator]

Maybe it will die as a product and I can go back to using something better for organising events with people. One large message box sure is fun.

Why would it die? To the contrary, even if I dislike ads as anyone else, I have to admit that a hundred million-large social networking backing an ad platform seems like a powerful weapon against AdWords. And if successful, it'll do the opposite of killing it, with even more company acquisitions, etc.

Re:Good

[Jugalator]

For those of us who desire organizing groups of people online - Facebook is pretty much the only option.

I wonder how they did it before Facebook?

Re:Good

[ackthpt]

I think that's a normal life-cycle.

Have a good idea, promote it, get popular, get ingrained with your users, cash in, cash out, die. Seems to work.

Can't see why not. That's Myspace for you.

Re:Good

[bdcrazy]

I had a similar thing to the calls about not having activated onstar in my car i bought used. But what if you are in an accident and can't call for help? I either get outside help or i die. The person on the other end of the phone let out a gasp. Somehow unable to comprehend not spending money to get onstar setup/monthly fees. I also had a revelation that just because i have a phone with me all the time doesn't mean you can get a hold of me at any second either. Kinda strange stuff these days apparently.

Re:Good

[Sparhawk2k]

I wonder how they did it before Facebook?

That's missing the point. What they're saying is that people they're trying to invite now only use Facebook. And don't necessarily respond to other options. I'm sure you could call every single person (if you even have their number since some people don't bother sharing that as much these days) but even then the people aren't getting Facebook reminders so they might not remember it.

Re:Good

[davester666]

Well, it sure worked great for AOL and MySpace.

Re:Good

[countertrolling]

They didn't. It was total anarchy and chaos, and two world wars. Facebook moved the doomsday clock back a whole hour..

Re:Good

[sortius_nod]

Forgot the last step "sell off company to NewsCorp".

Re:Good

[Toam]

I disagree that people don't use the event planning function.

It is an unfortunate truth that in this day and age, many events "exist" entirely on facebook. If you didn't get the facebook invite, you may never even know that the event took place until the photos are uploaded on facebook the next morning...

Re:Good

[ciderbrew]

I don't see it going anywhere. Maybe that's my point if they added some much better features for running and organising things then I wouldn't need to step out side of it to organise the event I've just posted there.

Here it comes

[Flyerman]

The complete monetization of your information. Utilizing cookies and IP addresses obtained via the millions of facebook "like" buttons, cross-referenced with your own postings and the postings of your friends and family; Facebook will deliver advertisements using anyone's likeness on every webpage who subscribes to their service.

Re:Here it comes

[Intrepid imaginaut]

Yeah, its about time Google had some competition in that area. :-p

Re:Here it comes

[nofx_3]

Google is a lot more clear about what they are doing, you know they are an ad platform and you knew they were BEFORE you gave them any info. Some people trusted Facebook more specifically because they weren't doing this. Now Facebook is basically taking a back door, it'll probably be opt out so millions won't even know they data they post on Facebook is being used to target ads OUTSIDE of Facebook. Facebook is desperate, they have no real ability to make money other than to sell your personal info and they know it. It's why they tried to set up their own stock exchange so they didn't have to go public and reveal all the underhanded things they intend to do with your data. They are the next MySpace.

Re:Here it comes

[TheRaven64]

Some people trusted Facebook more specifically because they weren't doing this.

Uh, what? Even my mother - who barely qualifies as computer literate - knows that Facebook is a platform for harvesting personal information and selling it to the highest bidder and expresses surprise that anyone is stupid enough have an account. And, no, I didn't tell her this, she learned it from newspaper, radio and TV news. Oh, and from remembering TANSTAAFL. Anyone who joined Facebook without being aware of this was practicing wilful self deception.

Re:Here it comes

[nofx_3]

My point was that Facebook used to sell that info to be used in targeted ads on Facebook's site, not for anywhere on the web you might visit. I also disagree with you that people know what Facebook is doing with your data, I'd actually argue that the vast majority don't know. Folks who I've had conversations with about what Facebook uses your data for were usually surprised. Your mom is the exception rather than the rule, most people in the US at least don't read a newspaper and don't hear/see radio and TV news, they are too busy with American Idol and Extreme Couponing.

Ok so rumor. Details are where?

[garcia]

From the blog post:

There is another twist to this story. Facebook is guarding this news and it is not letting anyone leak it out until they announce it in near future. According to my source, Facebook might launch a broader Facebook Ads platform later this year.

Basically there is nothing to see here so you can move on now. But! If you want to join the rumor mill here we go:

1. Are the payouts going to be competitive with AdSense's? I make more than enough yearly via AdSense to get taxed on the income. Will it be worth it for me to add Facebook too?

2. Will Facebook (or conversely Google) allow me to run both AdSense and FBAds concurrently or will I have to pick one or the other (see #1).

3. Are general users visiting my website more likely to click FBAds than AdSense? Will they be textual and thus fit into my content better or will we be looking at a lot of images/Flash?

So many questions and no answers in the linked content. Boo.

Re:Ok so rumor. Details are where?

[mackil]

From the blog post:

2. Will Facebook (or conversely Google) allow me to run both AdSense and FBAds concurrently or will I have to pick one or the other (see #1).

Precisely the problem I had when implementing Yahoo's contextual ads back in 2005. Google did now allow them to be shown on the same page, so I ended up doing an A/B test for half the site to see how they would compare.

Yahoo repeatedly failed to provide ads that were actually relevant to my site, which resulted in low low clicks, and in turn, very low return. I quickly returned to Adsense.

Re:Ok so rumor. Details are where?

[brainzach]

Are general users visiting my website more likely to click FBAds than AdSense? Will they be textual and thus fit into my content better or will we be looking at a lot of images/Flash?

This is just speculation, but Facebook's ads would most likely be base the off the user's profile information.

Facebook has a competitive advantage over Google when it comes to targeting advertising based on the demographic of the users. Google's algorithm's give it a competitive advantage when it comes to targeting ads based on the content of websites.

Which method works best for generating the most revenue is still up to debate.

Re:Ok so rumor. Details are where?

[DarkOx]

I suspect both methods will work well depending on the situation. On very subject specific sites Google's methods will probably work best. IE Adsens adds on the AROC home page will probably generate more clicks offering links to after market Italian car parts than Facebook ads pushing sexy singles in my neighborhood, will. Facebook will likely find more success on more general news/entertainment sites people just sort of browse not looking for anything specific like this one.

Re:Ok so rumor. Details are where?

[mlts]

One of the big questions:

Will FB actively monitor ads going through their ad network so holes in Flash and other add-ons are not exploited by malware writers? I doubt it. It would be nice if they went the AdSense route because it is almost impossible for a malware writer to propagate malicious code via Google's mechanisms.

Ads are the #1 route that PCs get infected these days in my personal experience. It would be nice if FB would act in the interest in the whole PC ecosystem and at least check ads for bad content about to go on their rotation services, as opposed to letting blackhats have a field day with another service.

Re:Ok so rumor. Details are where?

[rahails]

Hello Bill, The questions you asked are genuine but how can anyone possibly answers these until Facebook launches its ad platform. You are asking it a bit early. It's Facebook who is going to decide if they allow AdSense to run alongside Facebook ads for websites and what'd be the payouts. So think about it for a minute. There is no way I can tell this right now until we hear either from Facebook or from incometricks sources.

Let me guess...

[msauve]

Their slogan will be "Do be evil."

Re:Let me guess...

[cultiv8]

doobie evil? I though Zuckerberg was a friend of the peace pipe...

Just another step

[Anonymous Coward]

Just another step in the process of the internet slowly becoming facebook. First there was "like" everywhere, now facebook ads. Oh joy.

Oh, Great

[milbournosphere]

If this gets some decent traction, Facebook will NEVER go away...

Competition is good but...

[mackil]

... will it work? Yahoo! tried this back in 2005 and it failed miserably. Too much promised up front with too little returned. Publishers dropped it like a potato before Yahoo! could improve the contextual workings to increase the CTR. I know because I tried it, and quickly discarded it.

Lesson is, don't promise something you can't deliver, or are planning to deliver at a later date. Odds are, publishers will return to the "tried and true" and never look back.

Re:Competition is good but...

[ackthpt]

... will it work? Yahoo! tried this back in 2005 and it failed miserably. Too much promised up front with too little returned. Publishers dropped it like a potato before Yahoo! could improve the contextual workings to increase the CTR. I know because I tried it, and quickly discarded it.

Lesson is, don't promise something you can't deliver, or are planning to deliver at a later date. Odds are, publishers will return to the "tried and true" and never look back.

Yahoo's problem is the glut of ads in everything. I hated it so much I left Yahoo and all their groups and stuff behind. Perhaps if they weren't so intent on cramming ads in like crazy they might succeed with only a few here and there and ditch the *&$%@ flash ads. God, how I HATE flash ads.

Re:Competition is good but...

[thetoadwarrior]

From what I can tell FB ads are nothing but the dregs of the internet. They've never really been targeted at me except now after about 6 months of activity in Python related groups I now get the same ad asking me if I want to teach python which no doubt points to some questionable school.

WTF

[autospa]

it is just a rumor, and i think if it gonna happen it will be the death of facebook.

Re:WTF

[Anonymous Coward]

it is just a rumor, and i think if it gonna happen it will be the death of facebook.

then how can we most efficiently encourage it?

Re:WTF

[RazzleFrog]

I think you're crazy if you think this will kill facebook. I am not sure how it would even dent it.

Will it get past AdBlock Plus?

[NixieBunny]

If not, then I don't expect to notice a change in the Internet.

Re:Will it get past AdBlock Plus?

[elashish14]

I'm go even one step further and block them in /etc/hosts . I don't trust a single hair on Zuckerberg's head.

Re:Will it get past AdBlock Plus?

[praxis]

Do you mean SiteBlock for Chrome or BlockSite for Firefox, or something different altogether?

Re:Will it get past AdBlock Plus?

[geegel]

You forget that AdBlock only has a marginal rate of use among common users.

That being said, this platform will have its inherent limitations. Chief among them the fact that you can only advertise to FB users and second due to the fact that the landing page must be developed on a FB page. The first is not really a problem (the user base is huge), but with the second you can expect a lower conversion rate than with Google because the users will have to go through one additional hop and the exit points abound.

Will be interesting to watch either way.

Re:Will it get past AdBlock Plus?

[Viewsonic]

They may be indistinguishable from user updates.

Bob: I love cheese.

Tide Ultra: Now with new scent!

Bill: My dog is eating its own feces! [picture] [+18 Liked this]

Tim: I became one of the unemployed today... Huge layoffs. [+2 Liked this]

They are giving away free webmasters!?

[hawguy]

What does this mean (from the article summary):

Facebook will be offering webmasters to place facebook ads on their websites."

Facebook is offering everyone free webmasters?

A tangible advantage

[RichM]

They do, at least, have a genuine advantage here because they already know what you are interested in.

If you list your hobbies as action movies, rock concerts and computer books then you can expect to see adverts for Netflix, Ticketmaster and Waterstones etc.

Business-wise, it's a brilliant idea and if I ran a business I would be all over this.
But it's slightly creepy, I find.
I'll be opting out or outright blocking Facebook (yes, you can bet money on it being opt-out only).

Re:A tangible advantage

[AmberBlackCat]

Their methods aren't perfect. For instance, my profile listed me as single and 30 years old. So I got a bunch of ads that asked if I'm in my 30's and lonely. I'm not in my 30's yet, although next year I will be. I have never had any interest in a dating site and no amount of clicking the "thumbs down" button would change the ads to something I might actually be interested in. I eventually had to change my relationship status to "in a relationship" just to get less annoying ads. In fact, rather than looking at my profile information, they would have built a better profile by trusting my thumbs downs.

Re:A tangible advantage

[KidPix]

How is this an advantage over Google? I'd think your search history is a more honest and detailed representation of your interests than a facebook profile.

Re:A tangible advantage

[laktech]

FB is simply going to utilize a different vector which as other posts have suggested may or may not be better than search history, among the other piece of data utilized by Google. FB has data that Google has been eagerly attempting to garner (with little success) and exploit to enhance targeted advertising. In this environment, one is not only able to take advantage of the direct personal information revealed by the user but also able to infer additional information by analyzing the users social network and it's complex relationship web. This is extremely powerful. In fact, a particular advantage of utilizing such a vector proposed by FB is that it does not rely on search history. Just because I'm searching for "Albert Einstein" does not mean I'm interested in a book on relativity or a search for Bob Dylan I'm suddenly going to buy his CDs. In stead, analyzing my social network will allow for the ability to display ads generated by my social network which in theory are relevant irrespective of my search history profile. Example, FB can easily deduce that a close friend of mine with whom I frequently attend "clubs" (by analzying event history) has purchased a clubbing shirt. An ad of this type may be more relevant than a Bob Dylan CD. This could even go further and this interference could occur in a completely different social circle that happens to correlate with my social network. Extremely powerful tool.

Re:A tangible advantage

[RichM]

Not always, I'm betting that the majority of searches are actually performed while at work.
No doubt they are relevant to your profession, but how many are in a shopping mood while Googling for "Outlook error E3298112"?

Can't wait

[rwa2]

... to see which of my friends gets the Fleshlight ad placed on their profile pages!

Re:If this gets some decent traction

[TaoPhoenix]

Obligatory!

"Don't you know who I am? I'm the Zuckernaut, bitch!"

Oh great...

[PmanAce]

Can't wait to see them Farmville ads.

Re:If this gets some decent traction

[milbournosphere]

Oh, somebody please mod this up.

Re:In that case

[Bucc5062]

I think a wonderful whitehat hack would be to get every Firefox/Chome install to have adblock installed and set to block FB ads. If IE has ad block then include that one as well.

Most consumers are not aware of plugins like adblock(+) et al. Having the tech community get all uppy with "I'm done with FB' wont even register with FB since the bulk of users, at this point, are not tech savvy. Blanket block ads from a hack...people wont know the difference, maybe even be thankful that they are free of ads, and send a message to data scrapping companies that maybe, just maybe the public is tired to in your face ads, targeted or not.

I barely use FB these days and I notice that chatter and traffic has dropped amongst "friends" once they (and I) realized that getting daily updates was to time consuming to maintain. Were it to drop tomorrow I would not miss it, just as I don't mis Myspace, Geocities, AOL, or anything that tried to monetize my attempt to chat with friends, family, and peers.

Death of the Internet

[kjblue]

Google ads, killed youtube, now facebook, next the world :/

My Friends as Ads

[sherriw]

I can see this coming. Pictures of my Friends will appear on websites pushing products or even the services of that website. Welcome to Best Buy Sherri, your Friend Jane was just here and bought Harry Potter on BluRay! [like].

Ug.

Log out immediately after doing anything on any site.

The last thing I want to see

[pokyo]

While browsing for adult entertainment: "Why not try 'Big Black On Campus', watched 5 times by your sister Grace."

Love my adblockers

[JeanInMontana]

I don't see ads using Firefox from Google or anyone. Good luck Facebook, people do have choices. I choose NO ADS.

If it's anything like the ads on FB it'll suck

[thetoadwarrior]

The ads I see on facebook rarely have anything in common with my tastes. More often than not they've been about credit cards, credit checks and toned abs. With my awesome financial management and lack of care for the perfect abs I'm not sure how they figure I'd ever click those.