What’s on your Facebook AdBoard?

The other day I was hiding a few Facebook ads when I came across an interesting section within Facebook. The section, called the Facebook AdBoard, displays ads and sponsored stories you may like, as well as ads you’ve recently seen.

While the average consumer won’t find this interesting, I’m sure those of us in marketing and advertising do. The tool gives you a good idea of what type of ads you’re being targeting, the types of companies using Facebook ads, and what sponsored stories your friends are being included in. Additionally, since it allows you to view ads you’ve seen before, the Facebook AdBoard is almost like an AdKeeper for Facebook. (AdKeeper is a tool used on some display ads that lets a consumer save an ad, view it later, and see ads that are similar.)

What could Facebook AdBoard become in the future? Well, taking a look at the ads that I’ve seen, about 50% of companies are actually targeting me well. Perhaps the tool could be a way for consumers to choose categories of ads that they may be interested rather than being bucketed into categories that Facebook currently does. Ads would become more relevant and advertisers may see better performance from these ads. It could also be a great way for Sponsored Stories to be promoted and for users to see Facebook page suggestions all in one place.

While the tool is hidden within Facebook, if Facebook was to promote the AdBoard on the homepage (perhaps place it at the top of users’ newsfeeds suggesting users to update their ad preferences for a more pleasurable experience).

Whether you find the tool interesting or not, I think it could become something big for Facebook in the future, especially given the recent Facebook IPO controversy.

– Bryan Nagy

http://www.facebook.com/ads/adboard/