Everyone hates reading adverts, but they also hate paying for products. It"s a never ending cycle, similar to that of Wikipedia. However, news of Facebook adding "sponsored stories" to the news feed in 2012 has caused massive outrage online, as it does every time Facebook changes something.
It appears now that Facebook feels like they need to justify why they"re making the changes, and have started putting an announcement on users homepages that appears to explain why the company needs ads to survive. The announcement (pictured below) asks "Ever wonder how Facebook makes money?"
Even stranger, the link goes nowhere now, but we were able to find a page that explains the difference between "ads" and "sponsored stories." There"s also a FAQ with more information here. They explain them to be:
A business pays Facebook to feature existing posts and activity that mention the business. Sponsored stories don"t include additional messaging from the sponsor. Like Facebook Ads, they"re only visible to friends you"ve already shared this information with.
We suspect that most users probably don"t care, and never have wondered how the site raises cash and just want to get on using the site with minimal interference. The question remains though, does Facebook actually need more money to run, or are they just attempting to raise their profit lines?
Thanks to forum member ppheerroonn for the tip!