New FB Profiles: Don’t Give Away Your Ad Impressions

July 22nd, 2008 by Nick Gonzalez

One of the most profound changes in the new Facebook design is the width. I think it’s a net positive, and gives applications a greater control of user experience. However, developers that don’t adjust to the new width are going to miss out.

Facebook has placed new ads in the margin on the right hand side that are harder to ignore than the old placement under the application menu. This means that developers will be faced with the usual problem of having a user leave their app through an ad, but not get paid for it. Instead Facebook’s ads will get the traffic.

I suggest that developers widen their applications to take advantage of the new real estate with our leaderboard and upcoming skyscraper inventory.

Update: Simply checking “Use full canvas width” with push FB’s ads further away from your app while keeping the app the same in the old Facebook setup. The ads also show up sporadically.

Tags: developers, facebook

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 5 Comments

William W. 2 years ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

I really hope that Social Media will offer a 100 pixel wide skyscraper; that's about how much space I have to work with on the new canvas while retaining my original canvas width.

reply edit reblog flag

Eric 2 years ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

This is pure outrage - take a look at Slide (superpoke) and Rockyou (superwall), and you will see the facebook skyscraper text and banner ads on their canvas pages on the new facebook re-design. As the largest app developers with their own advertisers, they are surely scrambling to "re-own" their canvas pages. It can't be good for Slide & Rockyou now that Facebook has decided to encroach on their ad space.

This is going to send a huge ripple wave down any app developer's alley who is relying on their app/canvas revenues for their business.

Facebook has to address and/or fix this so that app developers can reclaim this space.

reply edit reblog flag

Eric 2 years ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Sorry to beat this dead horse, but as a fellow app developer relying on advertising like many:

http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=137

"...Developers can continue to run advertising on canvas pages and monetize their applications in other ways...."

I don't know about you, but it doesn't sound like Facebook even acknowledges the fact they are sneaking in skyscraper ads to the right of canvas pages. I've always been wary of their self-righteous / non-business / tree-hugging culture and I'm afraid it has finally manifested itself with these latest developments.

Shall we all stand together on this one?

reply edit reblog flag

nickgonzalez 2 years ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

I'm personally taking a wait and see approach. If you've become frustrated with the platform, feel free to attend our OpenThread event, where Google and MySpace will fill users in on the current state of OpenSocial. Did I mention it was catered? http://blog.socialmedia.com/openthread

reply edit reblog flag

2 /people/nickgonzalez/ /people/nickgonzalez/following/

Anand 2 years ago 1 point
Please login to rate.

Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.

Any tips on how to get people to focus on our app and our ads and ignore facebook's ads?

reply edit reblog flag