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Facebook Messenger Globally Tests Injecting Display Ads Into Inbox (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the oh-no dept.

From a TechCrunch report: Messaging is the center of mobile, and Facebook wants ads in front of all those eyes. After seeing "promising results from Australia and Thailand," Facebook Messenger is expanding its display ad beta test that lets businesses buy space between your chat threads. Later this month, a small percentage of users will start seeing ads in the Messenger app's home tab. Facebook tells TechCrunch that where these ads appear in the inbox "depends on how many threads a user has, the size of their phone's physical screen and the pixel density of the display." Over the next month, Facebook will gradually roll out Messenger ads to all advertisers globally. They'll have the ability to buy through the Ads Manager or Power Editor, with Messenger becoming one of the automatic placements for Facebook ads alongside the main Facebook app, Instagram and the Audience Network of other apps and sites. Ads aren't targeted by what people write in messages, and instead use the same Facebook targeting, measurement tools and minimum 50 percent pixels in view standard for viewability.

39 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Can't wait for by CodeHog · · Score: 1

    Mind to computer linkage to take off. "This link brought to you by PharmaCor."

    --
    Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
  2. Great. by BenJeremy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I just don't get enough of those co-dependent, needy messages from Facebook already. I rarely get on to Facebook, because while I consider it somewhat useful, there is also a lot of noise. I don't care that my second cousin Betty just posted a picture. I do care that my uncle Albert has a birthday today. I scan it once a week or so to keep up to date.

    Unfortunately, Facebook seems to be "all or nothing" in the way it feeds news.

    I get that they have to make money, but filling my inbox with spam, and texting me as if something meaningful has been sent is pretty damn disgusting as a tactic.

    1. Re:Great. by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Anyone still on Facebook is a loser.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    2. Re:Great. by thomn8r · · Score: 1

      http://www.fbpurity.com/

    3. Re:Great. by mjwx · · Score: 1

      I just don't get enough of those co-dependent, needy messages from Facebook already. I rarely get on to Facebook, because while I consider it somewhat useful, there is also a lot of noise. I don't care that my second cousin Betty just posted a picture. I do care that my uncle Albert has a birthday today. I scan it once a week or so to keep up to date.

      I use facebook daily... but it's never to communicate with people. It's almost always to look at meme's or car pictures or whatever I find funny. When they uncoupled messenger and made it a separate app, that's when I stopped using it.

      If porn sites advertise themselves as the "facebook of sex", then Facebook must be the "1 cup and 2 girls of personal communication".

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  3. Messenger- why? by MrLogic17 · · Score: 1

    Tell me again why I need to install a dedicated Facebook app to send messages?

    If I want to text someone, I'll send a text. If they insist on using FB messages, I'll use the desktop web site (on my phone) to read it.

    This was a bad idea for users from day 1, and I will not be a part of it. Bring on the good technology in its place.

    1. Re:Messenger- why? by swb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They've made it increasingly hard on mobile to read messenger messages without the dumb app. I don't get very many and I usually just delete them and contact the person in another medium. The people who insist on using it, I just delete their messages and when they get annoyed about why I'm not responding them I tell them I don't use it.

      I don't actually understand why it has to be a separate app, probably just another part of the global domination game I guess.

    2. Re:Messenger- why? by sycodon · · Score: 4, Funny

      Facebook is desperately trying to become the next AOL.

      I am hoping they succeed by skipping straight to the end of AOL's life.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
    3. Re:Messenger- why? by spire3661 · · Score: 2

      ITs so bad, even the Google email app DEMANDS access to pretty much everything, mic, storage, contacts, camera....its become EXACTLY what gmail was supposed to kill, the bloated email client. IT doesnt jsut ask once, it continually asks, I had to dismiss the permission prompt FIVE TIMES to send one text email through the app. It complains, at every stage, even if you are simply sending text. I uninstalled it and use Firefox to access WEBmail now. Bascially we have come to the place where EVERY interface will have ads put into ANYTHING you are looking at. We have lost the UI, forever.

      --
      Good-bye
    4. Re:Messenger- why? by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      I am hoping they succeed by skipping straight to the EOL of AOL.

      FTFY.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    5. Re:Messenger- why? by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      Tell me again why I need to install a dedicated Facebook app to send messages?

      That's pretty simple: to lock you into Facebook's platform, and allow Facebook to log all your messages. That's not so easy if you use SMS. Why are you trying to keep secrets from Facebook? What do you have to hide?

      This was a bad idea for users from day 1

      Since when are the users' needs and desires important? This is good for Facebook, and that's all that matters.

      and I will not be a part of it.

      Then you're going to be relegated to obscurity and irrelevance, because all your family members will be using Facebook as they share videos and articles (probably from far-right-wing "news" sites; these are very popular on Facebook).

      Bring on the good technology in its place.

      If by "good technology" you mean something that's in the best interest of privacy-advocating users and not locked into any one company, then it'll never happen. What corporation would have an incentive to do such a thing? More importantly, name any such communications technology that exists now, and then look up how old it is and how popular it currently is.

    6. Re:Messenger- why? by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      Show me apps i can actually trust on the Google Play store. ITs a huge cess pit of predatory apps. WHo are the reputable vendors that make apps with no ads? Hell even fucking Sennheiser put ads in their bluetooth control app. I called them out on it, and they said basically they dont see a problem. EVEN MY BANK APP SHOWS THIRD PARTY ADS. IN the middle of a money transfer the fucking thing asked me to rate the app. ITs not just google, there is no way to get a trusted file manager, or a terminal or any of that stuff from a trusted vendor, THEY ALL SUCK. Who is making apps that actually respect the user?

      --
      Good-bye
    7. Re:Messenger- why? by sycodon · · Score: 1

      thanks

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  4. I can quit Facebook anytime I want by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

    Drug addicts say this all the time, so it must be true.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:I can quit Facebook anytime I want by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      Drug addicts say this all the time, so it must be true.

      Drug addicts can change which dealer they get the drugs from if they feel like they are being ripped off.

      There are SO many options for chat and messaging, facebook is just one. And the others don't tend to do ads like this.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    2. Re:I can quit Facebook anytime I want by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      I'll stick to MMORPGs, I prefer to pay for my addictions the old-fashioned way.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    3. Re:I can quit Facebook anytime I want by sound+vision · · Score: 1

      It's starting to occur to me that Facebook might not always be the dominant social media platform, even though it certainly seems like that today. Usually when companies do things like this - squeezing/monetizing existing users - it means they think new users won't be coming in great numbers.
      Of course, it may just mean Facebook has already locked in the whole planet and so things like this are their only option for further revenue growth.

  5. Re:Remember that movie, Idiocy by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"

    Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  6. Fifteen Million Merits by FFOMelchior · · Score: 1

    If I skip the ads, will I lose my merits? I pedal hard for them!

  7. Use Facebook Blocker. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    Facebook Blocker Firefox add-on.

    Google, Apple, and Facebook and their customers will keep increasing the abuse, apparently. Abusing other people is personally damaging, but the managers of those companies apparently don't have the social understanding to realize that.

    1. Re:Use Facebook Blocker. by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 1


      You don't need a facebook blocker...that only solved part of the facebook issue. You need Privacy Badger (blocks facebook, twitter and the rest of them) + uBlock Origin.

      It does not hurt to always brows in private mode in Firefox. Sure Chrome might be a better browser but it also tells google everything you go and that displays custom ads and shopping results tailored to you...

      If you value your privacy do not stop just at the application level. Get to the OS AND hardware level if possible. An OS that respects your privacy; may I recommend a non proprietary hardware platform as well? -> Librem laptops from https://puri.sm/

      I'm not sold on the PureOS itself although I like the concept (you can install Qubes, better I think) but the hardware bit is as "transparent" as you can get.

      Note: yes I am aware this is using CoreBoot that can work on many other platforms but unlike many other platforms

      --
      A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
  8. The Solution is.... by Chronus1326 · · Score: 1

    The Solution is to not use Facebook Messenger, second only to Don't trust Facebook as a company.

    1. Re:The Solution is.... by Chronus1326 · · Score: 1

      Also, what happened to AIM, my buddy list is a ghost town these days.

    2. Re:The Solution is.... by Khyber · · Score: 2

      People got stupid and moved to Telegram.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    3. Re:The Solution is.... by sit1963nz · · Score: 1

      Yep Facebook and Messenger will get permanently deleted from my phone the first spam they send.

  9. Re:Remember that movie, Idiocy by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

    I pasted it from IMDB, so I blame them for getting the quote wrong. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt05...

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  10. Who are you? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't actually understand why it has to be a separate app, probably just another part of the global domination game I guess.

    From the attacker's point of view, it's best to specify "use this app" because you can have the app do whatever you want (such as show ads to your adversary).

    From the defender's point of view, it's best of specify "use this open protocol" because then the user is in control of what the app does (such as abstain from showing ads to you).

    Are you Facebook? Then you should be telling people to use their app.

    Are you anyone other than Facebook? Then you should be using XMPP or maybe SMS, and I couldn't even begin to guess which app is the right one for you.

    It's all about who you are. That'll tell you which thing you want, in the zero-sum conflict between Facebook and its users.

  11. telephone sanitizers report to the "B" ark by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    so this is something one would have to use Facebook to be effected by?

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  12. Re:Just use FBPURITY by Tempest_2084 · · Score: 2

    A thousand times THIS. I started using FB Purity during the election since I couldn't stand all those political posts my friends were making and I haven't looked back since. My feed shows me exactly what I want it to and nothing more. It allows you to get rid of annoying crap like the 'Trending News' ticker or Game Invites and filter messages based on keywords. It's great for cutting through the crap.

  13. What would happen if phone companies did this? by mark-t · · Score: 2

    Like, in the middle of while you were talking to somebody, you suddenly needed to listen to 15 to 30 second advertisement trying to sell you on getting new auto insurance or buying coca-cola?

    This poses no less of a problem.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:What would happen if phone companies did this? by mark-t · · Score: 1

      Okay... bad example.

      And Skype did the same thing with Skype-to-Skype calls IIRC.

      But y'know, it's not like they don't plaster their service with ads already... why interfere with basic communication?

      If ICQ had done something like this back when it was being the big deal that it was, I doubt that instant messengers ever would have become popular at all - they would have been seen as just another avenue for unwanted spam.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  14. On mobile use mobile website, no apps by herrlich_98 · · Score: 1

    First I tried tweaking the fb app and Messager app to tweak down tracking and auto-play videos etc. And each time there was some sort of fb privacy tracking story I would get a bit more paranoid. I deleted the Messages app. Later a deleted the regular Facebook app. My general feeling is that I am tracked less and have more privacy although I don't specifically know what. I do slightly miss more active notifications of Facebook activity.

    Facebook is like one of those people at a party who greets you with an uncomfortably long hug... they feel or want to be closer to you than you to them.

  15. Premium service by captaindomon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why doesn't Facebook offer a premium service to users? I like Facebook, it lets me keep in touch with family and friends in a semi-organized way. They have 2 billion active monthly users. They make approx. 2.3 billion per month in revenue. Can I just pay them two dollars a month for an ad-free service? They would be making money. I don't have to see ads. Win-win for everyone.

    --
    Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
  16. Exceeds Your Mobile Plan Data Cap? by AnalogDiehard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not a fan of this idea. FB Messenger spams could exceed the data caps on mobile plans ($$$) and create a backlash from angry customers.

    When Apple launched the iCloud, customers found their data caps exceeded because iOS was shoving high density data (photos, movies, etc) between other iOS and OSX devices WITHOUT TELLING THE USER.

    Not that I'm worried - I refuse to install any social media app on my mobile device. They gobble up battery juice and data bandwidth. WOMBAT (Waste Of Money, Brains, And Talent).

    --
    Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
  17. Adblock for Messenger? by hduff · · Score: 1

    It's that or I just delete Messenger.

    --
    "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
  18. Re:"...the center of mobile" by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Alabama.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  19. Hope they won't fuck up Whatsapp next by dnaumov · · Score: 1

    Even before this, they have basically killed Messenger for me. I can no longer find an option to archive a conversation on the mobile app and it's filled with useless shit that automatically reappears some time after you close it. Apparently there is an official "Messenger Lite", but thats only officially available to budget Android users, not flagship Android or iOS. It's reached the point where I've basically given up on Messenger because it's just frustrating. Hope they won't "improve" Whatsapp in a similar fashion, or I would expect the amount of people in my circle that use Telegram and Signal to suddenly spike.

  20. Re:Just use FBPURITY by ScottyKUtah · · Score: 1

    +1 for FB Purity! Another nice feature is the blocking of key words. Type in "Jayden K Smith" and every post containing that phrase disappeared. Rather nice.

    --
    He who laughs last is at 300 baud.
  21. Re:Block FB by IP address by knorthern+knight · · Score: 1

    Block input and out from and to the following CIDRs. The one that affects you will depend on what country you're in.

    31.13.24.0/21
    31.13.64.0/18
    66.220.144.0/20
    69.63.176.0/20
    69.171.224.0/19
    74.119.76.0/22
    103.4.96.0/22
    173.252.64.0/18
    204.15.20.0/22

    --

    I'm not repeating myself
    I'm an X window user; I'm an ex-Windows user