Although not directly related with the agreement between Facebook and the Data Protection Commissioner of Ireland, the social networking giant released its “About Advertising on Facebook” page last December 21st. This move was made to educate users how advertising works on the social media website.

How Advertising on Facebook Works

On Facebook’s About Advertising page, the social networking website explained how businesses advertise on the site.

First, a business owner will create an ad to increase brand awareness. Second, the owner will send it to Facebook and will pay the social media website to deliver it to the business’ target audience. Finally, the social networking giant will show the ad to the business’ target market.

In addition to this, what makes Facebook free for all is its ad-delivery as explained on the new ‘About’ section. Moreover, it’s also written in the page that users can simply click the ‘X’ sign if an advertisement doesn’t interest them.

Quick Facts about Facebook Ads

It’s a fact that many users are under the impression that Facebook makes money by selling personal information to advertisers. With the new ‘About Advertising’ page, the social media website clarifies this issue.

It was stated on the page that Facebook doesn’t merchandise any user information. Instead, advertisers use the Marketplace tool or work with a representative to reach their target audience without identifying who they are. Furthermore, doing so will produce a bad implication to the website. If users don’t feel like they’re not in control of who can see their profile information, then they wouldn’t use Facebook that much. In turn, users will share less with their friends.

Facebook Ads vs. Sponsored Stories

The new About section also differentiates Sponsored Stories with Facebook Ads. A Facebook ad is basically a story about a user liking a page (along with his or her photo or profile name) that is paired with an advertisement, which lets his or her friends see.

Sponsored Stories, on the other hand, are existing posts and activities that mentioned the business. With this ad unit, brands are not allowed to squeeze in promotional messages.

With millions of active Facebook users, this form of education about how ads work may be overdue. Still, it’s good to know that the social networking giant is becoming proactive in helping its users and the media members to understand how their platform works, since it relates to advertising and user privacy.