Facebook Connect + Facebook Ads = A Social Ad Network

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Facebook Connect + Facebook Ads = A Social Ad Network

by Erick Schonfeld on March 3, 2009

The push to ramp up revenues is clearly on at Facebook. If Mark Zuckerberg wants to prove Facebook’s valuation (something he won’t budge on for new investors ), he is going to have to start showing some serious revenues. That means figuring out how to make social advertising pay. At Davos, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told us to expect to see “the evolution of the advertising products” this year. One big evolutionary step the company is working on is the combination of Facebook Connect and Facebook Ads , in effect turning Facebook Connect into a social ad network. We’ve learned this from two independent sources, one with direct knowledge of the product. Asked for comment, a Facebook spokesman offers the following statement:

We are always looking at new opportunities for our developers but have not launched anything new. Last month, we did announce that we are working with a few developers to test the placement of Facebook Ads within their applications specifically on Facebook.com as part of our efforts to help developers monetize. The results of those initial tests will help us determine if and how we could extend Facebook Ads to additional applications and developers in the future.

The introduction of ads through Facebook Connect is an obvious way to expand revenues, and our sources say it is part of Sandberg’s larger efforts to do so. Just last month, as the statement notes, Facebook began testing ads for the first time on third-party application pages . It also introduced a commenting widget for sites that use Facebook Connect which expands the footprint of FB Connect on sites that install it. One can imagine other Facebook Connect apps, and even third-party apps, appearing ...

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http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/facebook-connect-facebook-ads-a-social-ad-network/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/03/facebook-connect-facebook-ads-a-social-ad-network/