New Facebook Ad Format: Sponsored Stories

Earlier this week Facebook announced their new ad format, Sponsored Stories, which will turn your friends’ actions into promoted content.  Below is a screenshot of what this would look like from InsideFacebook.

Advertisers will be able to feature four different actions as Sponsored Stories: page posts, likes, check-ins and applications actions.  Some of our major questions about this new ad format are in regards what type of content actually gets chosen.  Is there some type of filter that wouldn’t allow potential negative comments to be featured?  We’re also interested in the reporting functionality with this new format.  If there is a way to see what type of Sponsored Story is generating more page likes, you could translate that particular message across other SEM efforts.

This new advertising format hits the core of what the market research has found for several years; the most influential source users trust is what their friends/family say.  According to eMarketer (February 2010), “Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted — nearly 12 times more — than descriptions that come from manufacturers” (bazaarvoice.com).

What questions/hesitations do you have with the new ad format?  What are you excited about?