Facebook Under Fire by Some Users for New Sponsored Advertising Move
In an about turn from previous strategies, Facebook is rolling out Sponsored Story ads into users' news feeds to give brands more visibility and thus further boost their profits.
While the social networking platform first introduced Sponsored Story ads in January, it is now extending the format to integrate people's friends' names, images and activity into ads, which will start appearing in users' news feeds early next year.
Brands on Facebook will now have more opportunities to be visible in the areas of the site that users visit most often, rather than just their official Pages (which generally only tend to be viewed regularly by ultra dedicated fans).
This move brings Facebook more in line with rival Twitter, which offers brands sponsored tweets and sponsored accounts that appear on users' timelines.
It is nevertheless a far cry from Mark Zuckerberg's past statements, where he said that 'like' endorsements from friends are "two to three times" more valuable than paid-for generic ads.
In addition, the change of format is generating criticism by some Facebook users, who feel their activity should not be used by brands for commercial gain.
One group of users in the US is suing Facebook for its use of this format in a San Francisco court. The first case of its kind, if it succeeds it could impact significantly on the way Facebook makes profits from brand advertising.