Ads have played a big part in Facebook’s strategy over the past few years, as the company has been looking to accommodate advertisers in creative ways, without interrupting the social experience of its many users. That said, it could be working on a way to implement them into its messaging service.
TechCrunch reports, per a “leaked document,” that the company is hard at work on a new ad set-up that will launch in Messenger as soon as the second quarter of 2016. With it, businesses will be able to send along ads as messages to consumers who previously talked about that company through chat.
To prepare for this, Facebook has supposedly requested companies to get in touch with consumers with message threads, in the hopes to have ads ready to launch when the service goes live.
The company is also reportedly working on creating URL short links that will instantly open chat threads with a business, should consumers want to ask them questions about products or other inquiries.
Facebook has already responded to the leak by stating, “We don’t comment on rumor or speculation. That said, our aim with Messenger is to create a high quality, engaging experience for 800 million people around the world, and that includes ensuring people do not experience unwanted messages of any type.”
However, this indicates that the company could be taking a cautious approach with its ads, so that it doesn’t overflow the experience that users have gotten used to now – nor will it introduce any unsolicited content that they don’t want. The process will supposedly revolve around those that have voluntarily chatted with a business to get ads, and not just general audiences.
This is a change of pace from what Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said in the past about Facebook advertising, stating, “I don’t personally think ads are the right way to monetize messaging.” But keep in mind that the social media giant has been making leaps and bounds in promoting brands the right way over the past few months (including its expanding video service), and that finding a way to effectively do it with Messenger could be the next logical step.
We’ll see what happens in the months ahead, but Facebook is bound to find an effective way to make this work without bombarding users with too many ads.
