Facebook Turns Friend Activity Into New Ad Format

Could be important if you're running ads on FB...

Facebook Turns Friend Activity Into New Ad Format

Facebook is rolling out Sponsored Stories, a new ad format that turns your friends? actions into promoted content.

Sponsored Stories is ?a way for marketers to sponsor activities that happen throughout the News Feed,? a Facebook executive told Mashable.

Companies can choose to take certain user actions ? such as checkins or actions within Facebook apps ? and feature them in the column on the right side of the News Feed.

For example, if you?re Whole Foods and you?re looking to increase your exposure on Facebook, you can pay to have a percentage of all checkins to Whole Foods featured in a Sponsored Stories slot in the right-side column.

Your content wouldn?t be shown directly, but the actions of a user?s friends would appear. Users seeing their friends ?liking? or checking in to Whole Foods will drive increased trust and increased traffic.

?The advertiser is not controlling the message; it?s about actions,? our Facebook contact said.

Here?s an example of an action that could potentially be sponsored:

http://mashable.com/2011/01/25/facebook-sponsored-stories/

OK, I get it, it is sort of cool, but, Advertiser "A" got it for free in the friends newsfeed, so why pay for that friend to see it again on the right side? Unless FB plans on doing away with that?

I am going with it being pointless, FB will make a ton of money.

seems to be imp and can be used in a very powerful way if done properly