Facebook Introduces Expandable Ad Unit (Mashable)

Facebook is introducing a new type of ad that will expand if a friend "liked" the brand. The ad unit, which will be announced this week at Advertising Week in New York, is subtly different from Sponsored Stories, which rolled out in January, in two ways: it won't ever appear in the News Feed and -- unlike Sponsored Stories, which merely show an interaction with a brand -- it also contains an advertiser message. It's also different from Social Ads, which tell you if a friend took an action related to the brand.

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Instead, the new ad unit will expand to let you comment and see other comments related to the ad. This mock-up ad for The Ides of March (no advertisers have signed on yet) shows a "like" from the user as well as the copy:

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The ad unit is based on the belief that ads with recommendations from friends will be more effective than standard display ads and magnify a brand's reach. For instance, research Facebook undertook in May with comScore found that Starbucks fans and friends of fans spent 8% more at the coffee chain than other Internet users.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Mari Smith

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20111002/tc_mashable/facebook_introduces_expandable_ad_unit

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