Facebook now inserts ads into users' news feeds

Social networking giant Facebook further blurred the line between messages from friends and ads from businesses, by inserting ads directly into the news feed.

 

Facebook said that with its new policy allowing paid ads to appear as unsolicited "Featured" stories, there’s a better chance the ads will get noticed.

 

"Businesses can pay to feature a post so there’s a better chance you’ll notice it," Facebook said in its help center on the new feature (http://www.facebook.com/help/featured-stories).

 

It said featured stories will be labeled as "featured," and most will see about one featured story a day, though those who visit their news feeds a lot "may see more."

 

To stop seeing featured stories, one can click "Hide" to remove individual stories; or limit the volume of stories you see from a specific friend to "only important posts."

 

"Some of your stories may be featured. But you always determine who can see the stories you share," it added.

 

A separate article on tech site CNET said this is similar to "sponsored" stories but "sponsored" stories are much easier to distinguish since they are not embedded in the news feed.

 

CNET said one can see if a post is legitimate or an ad, by hovering the mouse over the word "featured" and a black box of text will pop up saying, "A sponsor paid to feature it here."

 

"The only way to get rid of the ads is to click the 'x' on the right corner of each post, deleting them one by one," it said.

 

From 2006 to 2009, Facebook ran ads but discontinued them until last January when it started posting "sponsored" stories on the side of users' home pages to boost brands and businesses.

 

Last month, Facebook announced plans to place these ads in people's feeds. — TJD, GMA News