Facebook and Nielsen team up to track online ads

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NEWSCOM
Facebook teams up with Nielsen to poll users about advertisements.

In an effort to increase advertising revenue, Facebook has partnered with online measurement company Nielsen to share ad data information.

The social networking site and Nielsen announced their multi-year partnership on Tuesday morning at an advertising conference in New York.

To gather ad data information, Facebook will poll users on the site's advertisements using opt-in-polls, or short surveys, created by Nielsen BrandLift, which will measure the effectiveness of advertising on Facebook, according to a Nielsen press release.

The partnership, says, John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen's online division, will enable Nielsen to "add deep knowledge of this important social network to our unmatched media measurement and consumer insight across all three screens [TVs, PCs, and mobile devices]. Together we will be able to provide the missing elements to clients seeking better understanding of how Web content and online advertising affect consumer behavior."

Yesterday, Facebook's advertising system, Beacon, which tracked friends' online purchases on partner websites such as Overstock.com and Fandango.com, was shut down in response to a class-action lawsuit settlement. The settlement, announced late Friday, ordered Facebook to discontinue the use of the advertising tool because of privacy concerns.

The Associated Press reports that advertisements on Facebook are expected to bring in more than $500 million in revenue this year – enough to cover the company's operating costs, according to Facebook board member Marc Andreessen.

In a Nielsen press release, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said "the combination of our unique ability to quickly and effectively poll a sample of our more than 300 million users and Nielsen's expertise in data analysis will give marketers access to powerful data they can use to understand and improve current and future campaigns."

By partnering with Nielsen, Facebook hopes to persuade companies to advertise on their site. Now, with more than 300-million users, perhaps Facebook will find their advertising niche.

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Net neutrality rules proposed; GOP pushes back

On Friday, we reported that the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, would propose that Internet Service Providers be forbidden from blocking users with slow web connections. And today, he did – announcing a sweeping set of rules prohibiting discrimination on the nation’s telecommunications services.

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