All your face are belong to us!

Facebook has launched a new ad format , where the user, along with advertisements, shows the faces of his friends who have clicked on a particular brand or checked in via Facebook Places.

For example, if one of your friends had the imprudence to be noted at McDonald's restaurant, then in the restaurant’s advertising banner you will see his name, face and comment he left. According to lawyers, such advertising is completely legal: this is stated in paragraph 10 of the Facebook user agreement .

In the settings now there is no separate option to prohibit the use of your photo in advertising (it may appear later). Banners of the “sponsored stories” format are displayed in the upper right corner of the personal pages on the social network.

The user's photo will appear in the advertisement even if he checked in at the institution and left a comment that “he hates this place”. This phrase will appear on the banner. If you do not take into account such cases, the effectiveness of such advertising should grow by an order of magnitude, because impersonal banners turn into almost personal recommendations from your friends. For advertisers, this is a real revolution, because historically they very rarely managed to make successful viral advertising (which is passed from person to person), and here it happens automatically.
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Advertisers who are afraid of negative reviews in advertising have the opportunity to limit themselves only to the demonstration of people who click on the “Like” button, because it does not provide for comments. In addition, banners have a flag for reporting inappropriate content.

Currently, advertising technology is being tested at several major advertisers, including charitable organizations, including Coke, Levi's, Anheuser-Busch, Amnesty International, RED and Unicef. Within a few weeks, it will appear as a standard option for all owners of corporate pages.

It turns out that advertisers pay thousands of dollars to famous bloggers and pop stars for mentioning some product, while ordinary users use wholesale and free of charge.

Well, welcome to advertising technologies of the 21st century! Someone else wonders why Facebook's capitalization is estimated at $ 70 billion , and advertising revenues are projected at $ 4 billion per year (11% of the total American online advertising market in 2011)?

Facebook marketing video : “Introducing Sponsored Stories [HD]”.