Facebook offers a fun and easy way to share thoughts, photos, and news while on the go. Recently, reports such as this one have shown that usage is shifting from the web version of Facebook to Facebook Mobile, and rightly so! With Facebook Mobile, a lot of us now upload pictures automatically upon taking them, tagging them with the friends we’re with right in that moment, and just show everyone that we’re having a good old time. Heard a nice quote? Want to share a funny joke? A few taps on our smartphones and we’re laughing along with our Facebook friends.
It may be subtle, and I’m sure a lot of us haven’t noticed it at first, but advertisements are now slowly but surely migrating their way unto the mobile platform as well. What’s more interesting is that Facebook has found ways to be more creative in their mobile advertising. Instead of just Liking a page, it now offers advertisers a direct link for downloads or other offers.
While not a big problem, it’s a bit of an annoyance when you have to avoid clicking that link that will zap you off to download an app that you’ve never heard of before or that you don’t particularly care about. It’s like evading these mines while tapping away on your tiny phone screen. Take them away however, and we take away a huge source of income for Facebook.
Facebook has been giving users a bit of a leeway with its mobile advertising, as this report on The Verge nicely points out. Instead of just cluttering up your Facebook experience, it offers advertisers several bids based on general characteristics of users such as locations, demographics, interests, and more. This information is then leveraged by app creators and advertisers to streamline the ads shown to users. Knowing this, don’t be surprised when a game you’re playing on your smartphone churns out ads with promos only valid in the city you live in or event about personalities and hobbies only you would care about.
I’d say it’s a nice trade-off for the services Facebook offers and there are even quite a few times when I am genuinely interested to see the offers of Facebook’s mobile advertisers. On the other hand, sometimes it’s just not worth the headache of trying to evade ads when you just really want to view your News Feed.
How about you? Do you have any suggestions on how to enrich Facebook Mobile user experience? Rant away and comment below.
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