A Marketing Scare: Facebook Post Testing
Facebook recently began testing a version of the platform where publisher posts (ads promoted and organic) appear in a separate timeline from that of friends and family posting.
This new platform would require advertisers to pay for a sponsored ad to show within the friends and family timeline, ensuring maximum reach and impressions are met with each ad unit they put media dollars behind.
Facebook said the reason for beta testing the 2 newsfeed streams is because many platform users have voiced they want an easier way to view posts from friends and family, limiting or halting the amount of promoted content featured within the newsfeed stream. Facebook hopes this test will help them understand if the two are well received. In addition, it will analyze the interaction with various content types such as video or image posts.
Testing is taking place in a total of 6 countries throughout Asia, Europe, and South America. These 6 countries are already seeing a decrease in content reach and engagement with the pilot debut.
Check out these articles on Recode and AdAge to learn more about this Facebook test and to see the impact it may have on the industry.