Facebook Invites Advertisers to Your Newsfeed with FBX Alpha Program
Facebook is expanding its advertising business by allowing different kinds of ads in your Newsfeed. Specifically, this is all part of the Facebook Exchange program (FBX), which allows advertisers to “show ads to people on Facebook based on their online browsing interests”.
Previously, FBX ads would only show up on the right side of the page in Facebook, which made it easier to ignore them, but now they’ll be appearing in your Newsfeed, as well. Of course, Sponsored Stories have been popping up in our daily Facebook scrolling for a while now, but the key difference between those and FBX ads is that Sponsored Stories always link back to a Facebook page, whereas FBX ads take you to an outside site.
“Allowing advertisers to reach people in News Feed is important because people spend more time in News Feed than any other part of Facebook,” reads a Facebook blog post. “We also believe that ads delivered through FBX will create more relevant ads for people.”
Facebook has long labored to find ways to make money, and ads have been the primarily meal ticket. The social network made sure to point out that there will not be more ads in users’ Newsfeed, just that there will be some ads that are different.
For advertisers, this is a terrific development, as their ads will be more visible to users now than ever; for Facebook users, this just means that they’ll have to be more careful about what they click. In either case, it’s going to come along slowly, as the new FBX ads are part of a small alpha program.
Previously, FBX ads would only show up on the right side of the page in Facebook, which made it easier to ignore them, but now they’ll be appearing in your Newsfeed, as well. Of course, Sponsored Stories have been popping up in our daily Facebook scrolling for a while now, but the key difference between those and FBX ads is that Sponsored Stories always link back to a Facebook page, whereas FBX ads take you to an outside site.
“Allowing advertisers to reach people in News Feed is important because people spend more time in News Feed than any other part of Facebook,” reads a Facebook blog post. “We also believe that ads delivered through FBX will create more relevant ads for people.”
Facebook has long labored to find ways to make money, and ads have been the primarily meal ticket. The social network made sure to point out that there will not be more ads in users’ Newsfeed, just that there will be some ads that are different.
For advertisers, this is a terrific development, as their ads will be more visible to users now than ever; for Facebook users, this just means that they’ll have to be more careful about what they click. In either case, it’s going to come along slowly, as the new FBX ads are part of a small alpha program.
