Why I like Facebook Ads, but not in my Newsfeed

Browsing Facebook this morning I experienced newsfeed ads for the first time, and I was not impressed.

The success of Facebook as a social networking platform is due to it's unique ability to connect people through various associations within a central location.  It started with a single school, moved across others until we got to the age of likes and of colleagues complaining that their boyfriends mom is trying to friend them.

Advertising drives revenue for Facebook, and like all other media platforms (yes, its a media platform) that allows users access to content.

From a marketing perspective I love using Facebook ads.  Great targeting based on profiles and activities allows me to easily attract fans, likes and engagements at basically a cost of $1 per person.  I can easily test ads and manage my budget to increase or decrease activity.

As a user I expect some friends with spammy feeds from Farmville or Photo of the Day to show up in my news.  It is part of being their friend online and if I don't want to see it anymore I can simply change their settings.

If the customized ads on the right sidebar show me relevance and catch my eye I'm happy to click through.  But ads in newsfeeds are completely out of place and distract me from the core user value proposition of the platform - to maintain relationships.

I choose which brands can promote to me by being a fan, but I can't choose newsfeed ads they choose me.

They distract me from my interactions, particularly on mobile, and they make me wonder about the pressures being applied internally about driving revenue in the face of a falling stock price.

I'm going to assume that a similar algorithm used to deploy standard Facebook ads is used within newsfeed ads, but it still distracts from my user experience.  Larger brands won't like it, but what about including them as ad units when I'm engaged with a complimentary, not competitive, brand instead?  This feature exists on brand pages today and could be easily expanded to increase relevancy and conversions.

That would keep me focused on who's dog is cute and allow me to continue to engage with brands on my own terms when it is time.