Facebook To Introduce Video Ads 180
another random user writes "Facebook is reportedly introducing video advertisements to News Feeds this summer. Reports in the Financial Times (registration required) say that the clips will last for around 15 seconds, and the first one users see each day will play automatically. The first video will apparently play without audio, and restart if the account holder chooses to activate sound. Facebook is yet to officially confirm the move, but the report claims that the social network will gradually introduce video advertising to minimize user disruption. The company's most lucrative marketing partners, including American Express, Coca Cola, Ford, Diageo and Nestle, are expected to be the first brands to make use of the feature. Facebook is said to have implemented the strategy in a bid to take a slice out of TV ad revenue by undercutting the sector."
Re:that is a massive rip-off of my data allotment (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone who sat through previous Facebook abuse will sit through this. They have a monopoly on your friends. That's a hell of a thing to overcome.
Yeah, people used to say the same thing about MySpace.
Re:that is a massive rip-off of my data allotment (Score:4, Interesting)
My suspicion would be that this is just another of Facebook's "Oh fuck, now we have shareholders to answer to" thrashing moves.
They've got crazy pageviews, lots of hours-per-month, and a huge pile of personal information; but they've been learning the hard way that cellphones are cutting into conventional page views(since even the best mobile browsers are still coping with a tiny screen), lots of hours-per-month can only really be monetized by pissing people off with increasingly aggressive ads and upsells, and that huge pile of personal information can be used either to maintain network effects or to scare users in temporarily valuable ways; but it is less obvious that it can be used for both at the same time...
We can only hope that we'll look back at them, as we now do on myspace, soon enough.
Re:that is a massive rip-off of my data allotment (Score:5, Interesting)
It's reaching a breaking point, even among those who use Facebook heavily. I'm a self-described heavy user of Facebook, but recently removed it from my phone to avoid ads (and the stupid bullshit where the app would still try to pull my GPS location even with 'location' turned off - but I digress).
Not having access to mobile Facebook has been a big personal change, but one I'm generally happy with. I do miss being a "part" of some friend interactions (typically sporting events or other immediately-topical events), but I also feel my smartphone usage is far less compulsive - no longer am I idly checking Facebook on my phone during my commute, "forcing" me to read my book, for example - and it's definitely reduced my "need" to know what's going on immediately at all times. I may have a little easier than others because I never got into Twitter, so my Facebook feed is the 'fastest' social networking I do.
Re:that is a massive rip-off of my data allotment (Score:4, Interesting)
Make money facebook style (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:that is a massive rip-off of my data allotment (Score:3, Interesting)
Bullshit.
I don't think a lot of anti-Facebook people realize just how much Facebook has become integrated into people's lives and their methods of communication. It is EXPECTED that you have a Facebook account by now. Not having one makes you a social pariah apparently, and you miss out on a ton of things in you friends' lives that you probably won't hear unless you have Facebook. People aren't being rude - it's just a reflection of how society expects everyone to communicate these days. Trying to be different just reduces your social interactions and for no good reason.
You don't have to use Facebook much, though. I don't. I barely ever post since I know no-one will likely respond (you can't compete with attention whores who post every 5 minutes and have 500 friends). But, like Windows, it's better to have it around than to not have it at all.