Facebook is dominating the news today. First the world’s number one social network came with a new design of its homepage which, in fact, is more a navigational redesign to make stuff a bit easier and more user-friendly.
Then the media all jumped on the findings from the GSM Association and comScore (published yesterday) that the social network is the most visited mobile site in the UK (before Google Sites) and now I read that Facebook is going to take care of its own display ad business.
As probably everyone visiting this blog knows, Microsoft was Facebook’s display advertising partner for ages.
However, now that the contract between Facebook and Microsoft had to be renegotiated, the display ad collaboration is over.
Of course I wasn’t at the negotiating table and, according to Microsoft at least, it was a ‘mutual decision’.
I quote: “We made the mutual decision that Facebook would take over responsibility for selling display advertisements on its own site. We have been working together on advertising for a long time, creating the best experience for FB users and advertisers. Given the kinds of advertisements that make sense within a product as unique as Facebook, it just made more sense for them to take the lead on this part of their advertising strategy”.
Facebook and Bing: cooperation extending outside the US
However, this does not mean that Microsoft and Facebook separate now: Bing remains the search engine on Facebook and Microsoft will keep serving search ads.
Microsoft even announces ‘enhanced cooperation with Facebook on search’.
I quote again: “we have deepened our joint work together on web search to provide even more compelling experiences to Facebook users with Bing. As part of this expanded cooperation in search, our two companies will soon provide Facebook users with a more complete search experience by providing full access to great Bing features beyond a set of links, including richer answers combined with tools that help customers make faster, smarter decisions”.
The most interesting part, however, is that Bing and Facebook are extending their cooperation outside the US. As you probably know, Facebook is growing fast outside the US and that is good news for Microsoft.
And finally: Facebook is also 6 years young (happy birthday) and is said to launch an own web-based email system like Gmail, Yahoo Mail and all the others. Told you: today is Facebook day.
Remember that last week I posted that Facebook launches a new service, which enables marketers to ask the email addresses of the people that use the applications businesses and marketers have developed. More about that here.
I might tackle some of these topics later, but you can find all you need to know via the links below:
– The data from the GSM Association and comScore
– A tour of the new Facebook homepage
– The announcement of Microsoft (or better, Bing)
Join me in the Social Marketing Forum