It is always very interesting to watch companies grow, especially when their revenue platform is ad based. With that being said, Facebook has been one of the most successful yet controversial growth stories of all. We all get an idea of the true value of the company with talks of a $100 Billion IPO. We also understand that the value is in the 845 million users, which translates to adverting dollars. Unlike Google, Facebook uses an advertising platform that is more exploratory and communicative. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, claims that their users have a much different mentality than that of a Google searcher. She points out that a Facebook user has come to explore; they are more open to visual ads, and stories of products/services that were ‘liked’ by their friends. The powerhouse out of Palo Alto, CA has tested with many different advertising strategies and we have seen LOTS of changes over the last few quarters, but get prepared for the next round. It seems as though Facebook, inc. is behind budget on first quarter ad revenue and is now scrambling to catch up by overloading users with increasingly intrusive advertisements. Facebook is set to launch a “premium advertising” service on Feb. 29 that it says will increase user engagement by 40 percent. Users will soon see ads that feature larger photos, videos and sound. Facebook currently posts advertisements within a user’s news feed ONLY if they’ve already “liked” that brand, now the news feed ads will be extended to those Facebook users’ friends as well.
So, I guess like all other changes made on large networks in which the user base has come to depend upon, people will bitch and complain and continue to use(and buy through) Facebook.