Los Angeles — Advertising agencies already have an abundant of criterion they can apply to target their ads to relevant consumers on social media sites, yet the social networking phenomenon Facebook is experimenting with a new real-time ads system that would see adverts on the site being targeted to individuals based on their status updates.
The social media Facebook has commenced mining information from status updates to deliver ads that respond directly to whatever is currently on consumers’ minds. For instance, if someone updated their status in regards to a basketball game, Facebook may serve them ads from the NBA, Nike or any other related brands.
A spokesman for Facebook confirmed to the Huffington Post that Facebook are currently experiment with the system which would see adverts being delivered to users based on updates, including status updates, with adverts appearing instantly in reaction to changes.
The spokesman stated: “Advertising on Facebook is more significant for people because they have explicitly stated their interest in things. We are currently experimenting with a feature that simply helps surface related advertising more quickly.”
According to the New York Post, the social media networking giant’s initiative, are currently being applied on one percent of its users representing a total of six million people worldwide, and delivers promotions based on real-time conversations.
Advertisements on Facebook are already transformed to appeal to the user but these new adverts will react faster and closer to real time than ever before with adverts reacting to status updates almost instantly to create the fastest ever advertising response to users needs. For instance, if someone posts, “Thinking of pizza for dinner,” a company such as Domino’s could show a web ad to that person in an instant, reports News.com.au.
The real-time ads use existing application to establish which advertisements are shown. “The new feature being tested does not change this algorithm other than speeding it up, so ads are served immediately after a status is posted, getting the brand in front of the user much faster, hopefully during decision-making time,” stated the source.
“It is an opportunity for advertisers to get in the conversation, and to have that timing advantage is potentially huge,” said Paul Verna, a senior analyst with eMarketer.
“But in order for it to happen, Facebook has to pay close attention to not overstepping that balance or risk freaking people out, invading privacy and going over that line,” he added.
Furthermore, prior to the real-time advertisements, the social media giant has introduced a new ad format called Sponsored Stories, which turn brand-related posts into referral advertisements.