Facebook Messenger Ads could be sent to users that businesses had prior contact with. According to a report from TechCrunch Wednesday, ads could start showing up in Facebook Messenger within a few months. TechCrunch said it obtained a document that Facebook sent to some advertisers announcing that business will be able to send advertisements to customers via Messenger in the second-quarter of this year. Businesses will only be able to send messages to users who previously chatted with that company. However, TechCrunch writes, “To prepare, the document recommends that businesses get consumers to start message threads with them now so they’ll be able to send them ads when the feature launches.” Facebook did not comment other than to tell TechCrunch, ““We don’t comment on rumor or speculation. That said, our aim with Messenger is to create a high quality, engaging experience for 800 million people around the world, and that includes ensuring people do not experience unwanted messages of any type.” The company did confirm that it launched a URL short link that allows users to instantly start a chat thread with a business in Messenger. Facebook has been pushing businesses to use Messenger as a customer service channel for nearly a year now. In December, it added Messaging to the Page Plugin widget, making it easier for customers to interact with businesses on Messenger. ...
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Facebook has surpassed expectations on all fronts in its second quarter, growing in not just profit and revenue, but in its already-massive user base and mobile advertising and usage of its “family” of apps like Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. Nevertheless, the world’s largest online social network’s stock price slid after the quarterly results came out, as expenses soared 82% and cut into earnings. Some investors may have been waiting for even better results, or looking to cash in profits with Facebook’s shares trading near record highs. Facebook said it had 1.31 billion people visiting from a mobile device at least once a month, on average, during the quarter, up 23% from a year earlier. Facebook had 1.49 billion monthly users overall, up 13%. It also had 968 million daily active users overall and 844 million on mobile devices. “Once again Facebook has proven its ability to attract and retain users,” said Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott. “It’s particularly impressive that users are more engaged than ever before – that the percentage of monthly users who visit every day continues to grow.” That is in contrast to Twitter, which continues to worry investors with stalling user growth and saw its stock price drop to its lowest level in more than a year on Wednesday. Facebook’s mobile advertising represented 76% of the total advertising revenue during the second quarter, proof that the company continues to attract advertisers to where its users are – on smartphones and other hand-held gadgets. That is up from 62% a year earlier. While still far behind the number one, Google, Facebook has been steadily growing its share of the worldwide digital advertising market. Its share was 7.9% in 2014, up from 5.8% a year earlier, according to research firm eMarketer. By the end of this year, eMarketer expects Facebook’s share to surpass 9% of the 171 billion-dollar (£110bn) market. Google, meanwhile, is expected to hold on to its top post with about 31% of the market, down slightly from last year. In all, Menlo Park, California-based Facebook’s second-quarter net income was 715 million dollars (£458m), or 25 cents per share, down from 788 million dollars, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding special expenses...
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