When a polling Engagement Ad is shown on a user’s home page, the user is presented with a question and is shown how many other users have already voted (including the number of his or her friends). Once a user engages with the poll, the results of the poll are shown. If a user selects the link to see how friends voted, friends’ pictures will appear below their respective responses.

I contacted a representative for the company to find out a little more about it. "Facebook expects the polling Engagement Ad to have a broad appeal for marketers as they strive to build brand awareness and work to engage users to interact with a brand," they told me.

When asked if Facebook thinks the ads will entice companies to advertise directly with Facebook that otherwise would not have done so, the representative said, "It will work best for marketers who present an interesting and compelling question.  As this ad has only just entered an initial test, we expect to see the uses for it evolve as more marketers gain experience with it."

In a PaidContent.org article, Robert Andrews asks if these ads are "a new business model or just a cool toy?" When asked about this, they said, "The polling Engagement Ad is an advertising product as part of Facebook Ads.  The company plans to continually roll out new concepts for Engagement Ads based on feedback from advertisers and users."

Facebook expects polling ads to become available within the next few months, but the exact date will depend on the results of the early tests with close marketing partners.  "As with all Engagement Ads, Facebook rolls them out gradually by first testing them with marketers and then making them generally available through its sales team," explains the Facebook rep.

In case you were wondering if Facebook is selling off user info, perhaps your mind an be put at ease by this article. Some sources have been misleading on this issue.

Facebook’s far behind in this game, its condition more distressing than wonderful.  Jessica E. Vascellaro reports, "The company says 70 of the U.S.’s 100 largest advertisers have advertised on its site since 2007.  But its share of total number of U.S. online display ad views was just 1.1%, according to market research firm comScore Inc., in its most recent report in June."

 

Vascellaro then notes, "News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media Unit, which includes rival MySpace.com, is the market leader with 15.9% of display-ad spending . . ."

So all eyes are on Facebook’s Beacon-esque engagement ads, which aim to invite clicks and then interest people’s friends by recounting their activities.  Since the ads were tested in August and rolled out this month, their effect wasn’t noted by the comScore report, and in terms of making users pay attention to advertising, they may well be on the right track.

Don’t be surprised if lots of companies give them a shot as everyone tries to take advantage of the holiday advertising and shopping seasons.