Introduced last January, Sponsored Stories -- a new ad format integrating your Facebook friends' activities into small ads -- began appearing in the column on the right side of the News Feed. Last month, the ads began appearing in the Ticker as well.
Though that addition received tepid reviews from Facebook users, it seems as though the company, which is planning a $100 billion IPO next year, is satisfied with Sponsored Stories as an advertising solution and thus a primary method to monetize the 800 million-strong social network.
Perhaps anticipating criticism for the latest migration of Sponsored Stories, a Facebook rep emphasized that the ads will be used sparingly. Most users, she says, will see the maximum of one ad per day in their News Feeds. The speed at which the ads cycle through the News Feed, meanwhile, will depend on various factors that Facebook hasn't yet determined, a Facebook rep says.
Confusingly, Facebook has offered a product called Sponsored Stories before, the rep says. In 2006 or 2007, a different product by that name also appeared in users' News Feeds.
For Facebook, the inclusion of ads in its News Feed has a recent parallel: In August, Twitter began including ads in users' news feeds (a.k.a. Timelines.) Though some predicted that the move would prompt a rebellion from users, that protest never materialized and the move has gone smoothly.