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Facebook's Ad Pitch 'Backfired': GM Insiders

Matt Cantor — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:55:05 CDT

A key reason for General Motors' decision to drop paid Facebook ads : A pitch meeting didn't go so well. Sources tell Reuters that GM met with Facebook honchos in the last few weeks; in the meeting, marketing reps reportedly pointed to the effectiveness of their free pages. The paid ads...

Ford to GM: You're Just Bad at Facebook

Kevin Spak — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:20:28 CDT

GM unfriended Facebook this week, saying that advertising there didn't work. But rival Ford says there's another explanation: GM must be doing it wrong. "It's all about execution," Ford said in a Tweet spotted by the Huffington Post . "Our Facebook ads are effective when strategically combined with engaging content &...

GM Ditching Facebook Ads

Matt Cantor — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:52:27 CDT

Bad news for Facebook ahead of its IPO: General Motors, the third-biggest advertiser in the US, has decided to stop running paid ads on the site. GM execs have found the ads aren't very effective—a conclusion other advertisers have apparently reached as well, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Companies...

Poll: Users Don't Trust Facebook

Kevin Spak — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:48:52 CDT

Investors are going wild for Facebook, but the site's actual users are less enthusiastic about its prospects, a new AP-CNBC poll reveals. Half of respondents said Facebook was overvalued at its presumed $100 billion valuation, and that shot up to 62% among active investors. Part of the reason they're probably...

Guess How Much Facebook Makes Off You?

Kevin Spak — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:35:50 CDT

Ever wonder how much money you're worth to Facebook? Earlier we reported that the social network supreme had a really lousy quarter , but Tech Crunch dug deeper into the numbers and did this interesting bit of math: Facebook reported having 901 million users and $1.058 billion in revenue. So...

Forget TV Ads: Romney Hunts Supporters Online

Matt Cantor — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:14:05 CDT

Likely voters are watching live TV less and less, and political campaigns are responding with aggressive online tactics in what could be "the first truly digital election," says an analyst. Mitt Romney is looking for the right Internet audience to target his ads—but rather than pursuing advertisements on particular...

Google Patents Ads Based on Temperature, Noise

Kevin Spak — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:04:41 CDT

Watching your search habits and email apparently isn't enough for Google. The company was awarded a patent this week for "advertising based on environmental conditions," PC World reports. Google intends to gather information on your surroundings via sensors in your phone or tablet—things like temperature, humidity, light, and even...

Coming Soon to Your News Feed: Ads

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:38:19 CST

Ads are coming to your Facebook News Feed next month, but tech writers don’t expect a major backlash from users of the social networking site. Sponsored Stories, the social ads that are currently restricted to the right-hand side of the page, will start appearing in your news feed at a...

Obama's Israel Ad 'Incredibly Dishonest'

Kevin Spak — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:51:05 CST

It's become popular for GOP presidential candidates to advocate "zeroing out" all foreign aid, and Barack Obama's campaign is now trying to use that against them—in what Justin Elliott of Salon calls an "incredibly dishonest" attack. Obama's Facebook ad text reads, "No Aid to Israel?" Click it, and you'll...