A graphic circulating on Facebook displays a statement allegedly from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announcing video ads coming to the social media site.
It’s a joke, however real video ads are coming.
There are a couple of tell-tale signs that this is not real. First, however, let’s take a look at the text in the graphic itself.
For those of you that don’t know, I’m Mark Zuckerberg, one of the founders of Facebook. We are currently looking into playing video ads as a way to increase the profitability of Facebook. These ads will stop what you are doing every ten minutes and play for anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds. You will then be able to resume what you were doing prior to the ad playing.
I’m sure that a number of people will be against this, so for your sake, we are giving you a say in whether or not these ads will be implemented.
Share this photo if you don’t want video ads to play while you’re using Facebook!
Humorous
This was obviously created as a joke, as it’s unlikely Facebook would announce a new feature that would “stop what you are doing every ten minutes.”
Not Facebook Protocol
This is not the manner in which Facebook announces new features, nor does Facebook ask users to share photos in order to vote on a proposed idea.
Date
The bottom of the graphic includes the date “Facebook 2014” which is obviously meant to be humorous.
Real Facebook Ads Are Coming
Despite the joke above, it has been reported that video ads are coming to Facebook, though nothing like described here. These video ads will be similar to what has been used on websites for years, in which a video will off to the side play with the sound muted. As Brand Republic reported:
Like online video ads on other sites the new Facebook newsfeed video ads will begin playing automatically, but without sound with the option of turning audio on left to the user. When audio is activated the ad will play from the beginning.
These video ads are set to arrive in July 2013 and the ads are expected to be 15-seconds long.
Bottom Line
The new “video ad” feature is merely a hoax. There has been discussion in the past about offering occasional video ads, which is probably where this idea was born, however no plans to implement anything like this exist.
Article updated May 7, 2013
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