Last week’s IPO filing was bound to see Facebook push for extra revenue, and it is. The Financial Times reports that Zuckerberg is bringing ads to mobile devices in the next two months.
Facebook’s public offering brings with it extra responsibility, and it seems a reaction is to find extra revenue sources. The most obvious solution is to take adverts to the mobile version of the social network — something that has been conspicuous in its absence until now.
The Financial Times reports that several individuals familiar with Facebook’s planning say that it has been in discussions with advertising agencies about displaying “featured stories” in the news feed on mobile devices. They go on to suggest that they could arrive by early March, ahead of Facebook’s initial public offering.
In last week’s filing, Facebook openly admitted that it doesn’t create much revenue from mobile devices:
We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven.
It looks like they’re attempting to make something meaningful happen. Expect huge outcry from Facebook users, swiftly followed by bitter resignation which slowly morphs into ambivalence. [Financial Times]
Image: Johan Larsson
Nathan
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 10:49 AMThey will come, smartphones outsold PCs recently. They need to move the sooner the better for them.
monkeymind
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 1:17 PMSo I guess that means don’t accept any updates to the current mobile app.
Quickly followed by the blocking of the old adfree versions.
Also followed by updates to add blocking apps.
And so back to no adds in facebook mobile.
gg
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 9:13 AMgreat – because the app runs so well already on android – so adding more load and crap to it is a great idea!