The interactive advertising formats were already being tested in Instagram and other parts of the Facebook universe. Now they'll be in your feed.
Facebook is introducing new, interactive advertising to its News Feed, adding ads that integrate polls, simple gaming and augmented reality into the main destination people go when they check the most popular social network in the world.
With more than 2 billion daily active users, Facebook is one of the world's most powerful advertising giants. Its massive advertising revenue totaled $55 billion last year. But a string of scandals centered on ad targeting and user privacy have put the company on the defensive -- and led to a record $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission in July.
Facebook said that the companies and the brands behind these new interactive ads won't see individual-level data about how people participate. So if you take part in a poll, the company and brand will get aggregate info about how many people voted for each option, but they won't see individuals who participated, Facebook said. Augmented-reality ads -- which could, for example, show how different lipstick colors look on a live camera capture of your face -- won't save your image, the company said.