Facebook Ad News: Not So Light Reading

I’m still digesting all the Facebook news. Here’s a roundup of coverage with excerpts (currently being updated; check back for more).

Official Releases from Facebook:

• Facebook Ads overview: "Today, Facebook Ads launched with three parts: a way for businesses to
  build pages on Facebook to connect with their audiences; an ad system
  that facilitates the spread of brand messages virally through Facebook
  Social Ads™; and an interface to gather insights into people’s activity
  on Facebook that marketers care about."
• Beacon allows Facebook members to share their actions taken on 44 participating sites. Example: "Fandango, the nation’s leading moviegoer destination, is using Beacon
  so when Facebook users purchase a movie ticket on Fandango.com, they
  can share their movie plans with their friends on Facebook. Consumers
  gain a new way to tell their friends about their movie tastes, while
  Fandango is able to gain greater social distribution on Facebook."
• Facebook Ads is basically a new form of sponsored groups that includes branded applications and other features designed to promote virality. Example: "The Coca-Cola Company will feature its Sprite brand on a new Facebook
  Page and will invite users to add an application to their account
  called ‘Sprite Sips.’ People will be able to create, configure and
  interact with an animated Sprite Sips character. For consumers in the
  United States, the experience can be enhanced by entering a PIN code
  found under the cap of every 20 oz. bottle of Sprite to unlock special
  features and accessories. The Sprite Sips character provides a means
  for interacting with friends on Facebook. In addition, Sprite will
  create a new Facebook Page for Sprite Sips and will run a series of
  Social Ads that leverage Facebook’s natural viral communications to
  spread the application across its user base."

Blog Coverage:

• Jeremiah Owyang reviews MySpace and Facebook’s new advertising offerings, writing about Facebook in particular, "We see this as a win for Facebook, this highly targeted system isn’t
  just about web advertising but about brand affinity and hooks into
  what’s really important, trusted endorsements from people in a network."
• A brief recap of the three-legs of Facebook’s announcement from Donna Bogatin who fears user reaction: "What will Zuckerberg’s 50 million Facebookers think,however, when they
  know he is giddily boasting to advertisers that Facebook knows
  “exactly” what they do, where they are, where they work, how they vote…"
• VentureBeat’s coverage asks "How interested are users in sharing their actions from a business’ website with their friends?"
• TechCrunch liveblogged it and then covered more later.
• Mashable says Facebook’s no Google threat. It isn’t, but that’s not the point. Why does everyone need to compare Facebook to Google? It is refreshing to see someone not all that enamored with this. "…Facebook still doesn’t have what it takes to play on the field with
  Google and the big-boys, regardless of what Microsoft says their
  valuation to be."