Remember all that brouhaha over Facebook’s “Sponsored Stories,” the ads that are supposed to be cleverly disguised as simple recommendations from friends? We kind of can’t believe it’s taken this long for Facebook to realize that users are onto their little ruse, but the social network announced yesterday that it’s ditching the ads in favor of a brand new approach toward advertising.
Facebook has had issues trying to appease both marketers and the audience it’s supposed to be marketing to. On the one side, advertisers hold the keys to the money bin filled with revenue that Facebook wants oh-so-very-much. On the other, you’ve got a kajillion people using a “free” service, many of whom don’t want to be bothered by ads. So how do you please both?
The company is taking a new tack in its attempt to hold everyone’s hands at the campfire, announcing during a media event yesterday that it’s not only doing away with Sponsored Stories, reports the Los Angeles Times, but also winnowing down the types of ads it features on the social network. It’s too complicated for advertisers, apparently, which means users probably aren’t clicking where marketers want them to be.
Michael Sauers is currently the Director of Technology for Do Space in Omaha, NE. Michael has been training librarians in technology for the past twenty years and has also been a public library trustee, a bookstore manager for a library friends group, a reference librarian, serials cataloger, technology consultant, and bookseller since earning his MLS in 1995 from the University at Albany’s School of Information Science and Policy. Michael has also written dozens of articles for various journals and magazines and his fourteenth book, Emerging Technologies: A Primer for Librarians (w/ Jennifer Koerber) was published in May 2015 and more books are on the way. In his spare time he blogs at travelinlibrarian.info, runs The Collector’s Guide to Dean Koontz Web site, takes many, many photos, and typically reads more than 100 books a year.
View all posts by Michael Sauers
Remember all that brouhaha over Facebook’s “Sponsored Stories,” the ads that are supposed to be cleverly disguised as simple recommendations from friends? We kind of can’t believe it’s taken this long for Facebook to realize that users are onto their little ruse, but the social network announced yesterday that it’s ditching the ads in favor of a brand new approach toward advertising.
