As the social networking giant’s looming multi-billion dollar IPO draws ever closer, Facebook is rapidly expanding its revenue-generating streams, chiefly through the evolution of its mobile advertising platform.
According to a report from Reuters early Thursday, Facebook will now integrate Sponsored Stories (which are posts from friends or Pages on Facebook that a business, organization or individual has paid to highlight) straight into users’ mobile News Feed.
In a surprising move, the log-out page won’t look so “clean” any longer, as Facebook will begin to feature advertisements on this familiar departure page.
Facebook is even rolling out Offers that will allow businesses to share discounts and promotions from their Facebook page. Facebook users can then redeem those discount or freebie opportunities via or email or, naturally, through their nearest handy mobile device.
“Our vision for marketing is that it is as good as any of the content you and I see on our newsfeed from a friend or family member,” says Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions Carolyn Everson.
Ultimately, nothing presently exists as a bigger possible money-maker for Facebook than mobile ads and monetization through Facebook’s popular mobile apps.
“We currently do not show ads or directly generate any meaningful revenue from users accessing Facebook through our mobile products, but we believe that we may have potential future monetization opportunities such as the inclusion of sponsored stories in users’ mobile News Feeds,” Facebook recently revealed.
Brian
This is an interesting take on Mobile Marketing. I'm curious to see how users will respond to the mobile ads. The battle over push vs. pull content and ads. It will be interesting to follow this and see how it unfolds.