Don t like the ads you see on Facebook? Now you can tell Facebook exactly why.
The social network, which says it shows millions of ads every day, from more than 1.5 million advertisers, has long offered its users the option to block ads they don t like. The idea isn t entirely altruistic: You get to avoid seeing that message that annoys you, but Facebook uses the feedback to try to show you something it thinks you might find more interesting.
Now Facebook s giving users the option to provide a specific reason for not liking an ad: If you click on I don t want to see this, which usually appears in a corner of the sponsored post, you ll get a drop-down menu that lets you choose among such reasons as It s not relevant to me or It s offensive or inappropriate.
In a blog post, Facebook product manager Max Eulenstein says the company will use this more specific feedback to decide whether to show the ad to other people. It s also going to give more weight to people who don t hide ads very often, on the theory that they must feel pretty strongly if they have blocked a particular message.
The move makes sense: Like most online companies that show ads, Facebook wants to show ads that are most likely to produce a favorable response, because that means they ll be more effective.
Meanwhile, remember how we ve been telling you that Facebook is gearing up to show more videos – in terms of both video advertising and user-generated clips? Here s another sign: The Wall Street Journal reports Friday that Facebook is wooing some popular producers of videos on YouTube, the service operated by Facebook rival Google.
Many YouTube contributors already share their clips on Facebook, but Facebook would like them to upload even more of their material directly to its social network, so Facebook can share them with members. Facebook is only starting to build out a video advertising business, while YouTube s is estimated to bring in billions in annual revenue. But if Facebook has more high-quality video clips to show, it could eventually show more ads alongside them.
(Image courtesy of Facebook)
