Facebook has come up with a new way of displaying ads on the social media platform. As per a blogpost by the company, Facebook will now display ads in the garb of sponsored content, shielding them from various ad blockers.
However, the social network also said that users will be able to block certain ads that they do not prefer to see. Facebook’s post states, “If you don’t want to see ads about a certain interest like travel or cats, you can remove the interest from your ad preferences. We also heard that people want to be able to stop seeing ads from businesses or organizations who have added them to their customer lists, and so we are adding tools that allow people to do this. These improvements are designed to give people even more control over how their data informs the ads they see.”
So how will Facebook have its users blocking ads and make money at the same time? Well, Facebook has decided to alter their own code to make ads appear like content pieces. Usually, ad blockers sniff out ads within the website’s code, hence making advertisements appear as content will avoid the gaze of ad blockers. Facebook says, “As we offer people more powerful controls, we’ll also begin showing ads on Facebook desktop for people who currently use ad blocking software…Rather than paying ad blocking companies to unblock the ads we show — as some of these companies have invited us to do in the past — we’re putting control in people’s hands with our updated ad preferences and our other advertising controls.”
Ad blocking has become a huge debatable issue in the world of online content sharing services lately. As per a recent survey by eMarketer, 69.8 million Americans are set to use ad blockers in 2016, spurning online advertisers, content producers and costing them millions in marketing money. The Indian online content market is also bringing the heat on ad blockers, as content publishers are witnessing revenue losses.
Do you feel it’s fair to use ad blockers on websites that you consume content from regularly? Let us know your thoughts on ad blockers in our comments section below.