I always have to preface Facebook product updates by saying that it is an update to me! Facebook is continually rolling out new features and tests... and with 800m+ users, we all see different things. So this is new to me! For months now, the Facebook newsfeed has a sort features for Top Stories and Most Recent posts. Today, I noticed a story locked atop the feed that looked nearly identical to the others stories - except for: - a faint line separating it from the other feeds - small text that reads "featured"
When the 'featured' text is hovered over, it expands to explain that this is a sponsored story.... just appearing in a new format (see normal here) and arguably in the most prominent place of any prior Facebook ad.
This is reminiscent of Google AdWords - where top paying / converting ads appear atop the search results and the others appear on the right column. The interesting part to me is how blended and integrated (too much?) it is into the core experience.
