Facebook Mobile Advertising, Quick to React?
Facebook reached an agreement with Bango, the mobile apps payment services provider, to begin hosting ads on Facebook’s mobile versions. This agreement would introduce mobile ads to the 425 million Facebook users who access the social media platform on their mobile devices. During their IPO filing, Facebook revealed their 2011 financials and indicated that the company made $3.7 billion in revenue in 2011, 85 percent of which stems from advertising.
Facebook currently does not display ads on their mobile versions (including windows mobile, iOS, and Android). However this will change on March 1, 2012. The company sees a tremendous opportunity to leverage mobile advertising to increase revenue, however social media expert and serial web Entrepreneur Kenneth Wisnefski feels this move is “too rushed” and cautions “Facebook may be neglecting their community of users with this decision.”
Wisnefski feels that:
- Facebook generates most of their revenue from the standard platform (non-mobile) however I do not expect the majority of community members to embrace this new addition at first. Facebook may lose some of their 425 million mobile users initially.
- Mark Zuckerburg is in a tough place now that he has to appeal to shareholders. As CEO, there are strategic business opportunities that his company can capitalize on (mobile advertising); however the Facebook community may not be the appropriate audience to accept this.
- This move seems too rushed and we have seen other social media platforms take a more cautious approach to this market. Twitter, for example, took an extended amount of time before introducing its Promoted products, which were applauded by its users as non-intrusive and well-designed.
- When users begin to feel inundated by ads, especially on mobile platforms, they may begin to lose interest and deviate away from the platform. Even if they do not completely deviate from Facebook, they may cut back on their engagement time because it becomes so overrun with advertising. Mobile is known to be quick and agile, this could impede that.
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Lana Samara (@LanaSamara) is a DePaul University College of Commerce graduate currently working as a Digital Media Strategist with Kambio Group and SocialTechPop. Her sharp wit and humor come to light within her own personal blog as well as her contributions to SocialTechPop. She is in the beginning stages of exploring the world of PR and Social Media Consulting.