Facebook putting a stop to ad blocking

Social media giant Facebook is one of the most attractive platforms for marketers, but with organic reach down to almost zero and ad blockers stopping some promoted posts from being seen, it can be something of a minefield. But according to a recent article I read on the Marketing Week website, the days of ad blocking are set to come to an end.

Facebook is hoping to solve the issue of ad blocking with a new technology, making it difficult for ad blocking software to identify what content is an advertisement, and what isn’t.

The software update will make advertised posts indistinguishable from regular posts – at least, for the ad blocking software. Facebook users will still be able to identify which content in their news feed has been paid for.

As Andrew Bosworth – VP of pages and advertising at Facebook – explained in a recent blog post, the updated ad preferences, along with other advertising controls, are “putting control in people’s hands”.

Rather than paying ad blocking companies to unblock the ads that Facebook displays, users will have more powerful control over what they see in their news feed.

Ads will also start to be shown on Facebook desktop, for those who are currently using ad blocking software.

In terms of the other changes, Facebook is looking to make improvements to its ad preferences. So if you no longer wish to see ads about travel, for example, you can remove it from your preferences, meaning you can control how your data affects the ads you see.

Data from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) reveals that more than one in five (22%) British adults use ad blockers, with younger internet users being more likely to do so. The IAB has welcomed Facebook’s new technology, with CEO Randall Rothenberg saying that the tech giant is “preserving a vibrant value exchange with its users.”

“For hundreds of years, advertising and marketing have been central to the delivery of entertainment and services that are otherwise free to consumers,” he told Marketing Week. “In addition, advertising is essential to the functioning of democratic capitalism; it is how consumers and citizens learn about better prices, better features, better job opportunities, and even better political candidates.”

He also added that Facebook’s recognition that advertising is essential for connecting global users “should be replicated across the free and open internet.”

What do you make of these changes to ad blocking?