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August 14, 2012

Facebook tests promoted ads in all member news feeds

The social network is trying out a new way for advertisers to reach users whether or not they are connected to a brand.

By Tineka Smith

The promoted posts will be tested to reach Facebook members that have not liked a brand’s Facebook page or had a friend who has liked a certain company’s page.

"Starting soon, we are beginning a very small test that will allow marketers to promote Page posts to people beyond their fans in the news feed," Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta told Mashable. "These ads may appear on both desktop and mobile."

Ads will be labelled as sponsored with the option to like the company’s page. Facebook believes introducing ads in the news feeds of all its members will help businesses reach more people.

If Facebook introduces the promoted posts across user news feeds advertisers would be able to have their ads displayed in large numbers without having a solid fan following on Facebook.

Facebook said that they are being careful about testing the promoted ads in user news feeds.

"We want to be thoughtful about how we introduce ads in news feed, so we have limits in place to ensure that people’s news feeds are not filled with advertising," said Facebook.

Facebook first introduced news feed sponsored ads in January. The company has since been working to strengthen its advertising platform, particularly in mobile.

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The social network’s attempt to boost its advertising offering may help the company impress investors after a disappointing first earnings report.

The company’s revenue growth was the slowest since its first quarter in 2011 and had a net loss of $157m compared to a net income of $240m in the same quarter a year ago.

The social network launched mobile ads for developers earlier this month and says new feature will allow give mobile app developers a new way to "grow their business with an ad unit that helps them reach and reengage their users."

Facebook says that in the past month they have sent users to the Apple’s App store and Google play 146 million times due to clicks from newsfeeds, bookmarks and the Facebook App Centre.

Please follow this author on Twitter @Tineka_S or comment below.

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