Facebook Looks to Expand Their Social Ad Formats

Facebook is looking to expand their social ad formats and that means Microsoft may be losing out.  Back in 2007 when Microsoft invested a hefty $240 million to take a small part of Facebook to help expand its ad network it seemed like an excellent move.  Not only did it secure the space from Google, it gained a small stake in a growing social network.  However, now it seems Facebook is phasing out Microsoft’s pretty standard advertisements in favor of their more social ads (which seem to fair very well mind you).

While this move doesn’t fair well for Microsoft, it will definitely benefit Facebook.  Facebook is a growing (and maturing) company and it needs to focus on growing and maturing their business strategy.  Just as Digg decided to roll out Digg Ads a while back (which also seem to be working quite well), Facebook is doing the same with their social ads.

So far this month Facebook has already stopped using Microsoft’s ads in several international markets (versions) of the site and the U.S. may be next on the list.  Microsoft and Facebook are currently renegotiating the terms of the agreement and if I was Facebook, I would stick to what seems to be their new plan and continue to minimize Microsoft’s ads on the site (or even eliminate them if possible).

Again, if I was Facebook I would want all the ad inventory I could get back from Microsoft to be able to successfully push our own advertisements.