social ads

The newest form of online advertising, "social ads" are small, banner-like ads tied to social networking users' activities and placed on their profile pages. For example on Facebook, members use mini-feeds and news feeds to keep up with the activites of their friends. So, for example, a friend of "Erin" might receive an update in their news feed that she just bought an iPhone, and include Erin's photo as well as a small Apple ad with an image of an iPhone and a link to the Apple site. Social ads are the result of a combination of social action and content, and it spreads virally.

Marketers can target social ads according to more than a dozen demographic and behavioral criteria--including country, age, gender, political views, movies, and relationship status. Ads are typically sold via auction on a CPC and CPM basis.