Recently, Facebook announced its new advertising program, a bold attempt at creating more relevant and effective web advertising. So what is social advertising? It works something like this. Imagine you are a die-hard fan of Coca-Cola. So you go and add Coca-Cola as one of your “friends” or link to your existing Facebook profile. The next time anyone in your social network views your profile, they will also be seeing Coca-Cola advertisements—and perhaps how you feel about them too. Social advertising attempts to commission the social context of the user. Thus, advertisements are not reliant on the one individual but on the individual’s social network.

So how is social advertising superior to traditional advertising? It adds realism to the advertisement. It plays with factors such as peer-pressure and referrals to gain popularity and exposure. And if it’s between friends it’s gotta be good stuff right? Although a new marketing strategy, social advertising is a cheap and effective way to advertise. Advertisers don’t need to try so hard at convincing consumers that their products are good. It’s your friends who tell you their products are good, leading to the bandwagon effect, and ultimately the goal companies using social advertising hope to reach.