Facebook Unveils New More Interactive Advertising Formats

Following on from our post below about Twitter’s moves to introduce advertising, Facebook have also been looking at their advertising model. We believe that Facebook’s route is closer to the correct answer in this area, being involving and encouraging a dialogue with consumers rather than just viewing them as passive receivers of information.

Facebook’s new sponsored story ad unit is called ‘Comment’, closely reflecting the interface users are familiar with from the main Facebook page. It will consist of a display ad that poses a question beneath and invites users to give their opinion or participate in a conversation. If users leave a comment, it can become visible to their friends as both a Sponsored Story and as a news feed story.

The Comment Ad is the result of Facebook’s “Ad Expo” last year, which invited advertising agencies to submit ideas for advertising designs to engage consumers in new, interactive ways.

Twitter Risks User Backlash With Advertising

Reports have started circulating that Twitter are considering adding 'promoted tweets' (thats advertising, to you and me) into user's tweet streams.

While this would answer one criticism leveled at the Twitter management (how do you monetise it?) it could adversely affect the user relationship and experience. Currently, a user only sees messages in their stream from users or companies they specifically choose to follow.

It seems a strangely old fashioned and intrusive way for a company to go about building an advertising platform in the new world of engagement and involvement. Many new media companies have used old fashioned advertising models when the opportunity was there to build something new. The VOD (Video on Demand) space is another example of this, where advertisers look to 'get in the way' of content a consumer really wants by shouting about themselves for 30 seconds.

We welcome the fact that Twitter are looking at ways for advertisers to reach their users, but simply believe there are better, less intrusive ways of doing it.

Microsoft Launch Interactive TV Ad platform

Microsoft have launched a new advertising platform for the Kinect called ‘NUads’, which it claims will transform TV advertising into an interactive experience by using the voice-and gesture-control of Kinect for the Xbox 360.

Ads placed on the Xbox will respond to various voice commands, such as “Xbox Tweet”, allowing the consumer the ability to share the brand information with friends and “Xbox More” to request additional information or money off coupons about a brand via email. "Xbox Near Me" will locate a retailer near you, and send a text message with the location.

Gesture control is also employed as a way of voting for preferences. By waving a hand, consumers can take part in real time voting for products or services.

Microsoft’s Mark Kroese, who heads up advertising for entertainment and devices at Microsoft said in a blog post prior to the launch today that Nuads will “change television as we know it – forever”.

That remains to be seen, but we do view this as a continuation of the trend for more involvement and interaction between advertisers and consumers.

The Museum of Me

Intel have launched a great personalised use of social media that is creating a lot of buzz and talkability for the company. A short video about the 'Museum of Me' project is below;

It works by taking your facebook information, including friends, pictures and locations and turning it into a personalised art exhibition. Apart from a few grumbles online regarding the random nature of the images being juxtaposed, this is fast gathering positive reaction and being shared at an amazing rate.

If you want to create your own museum, the link is here