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Facebook moves to improve brand safety

Facebook hopes its new tools will make advertisers more comfortable. Is that enough to gain marketers’ trust?

Measurement and transparency issues have been troubling Facebook for the past year. Now, the company has introduced new brand safety tools and a set of guidelines detailing which users - publishers and creators - can make money off from content posted to the platform as part of its revenue sharing program.

Advertisers concerns are justified. When, for example, brands discovered that their ads were appearing alongside objectionable content on YouTube, hundreds of them pulled out immediately. YouTube’s response was that in future if channels did not have 10,000 views they will not be ad supported.

Facebook’s new guidelines hope to support brands by building on its credibility. The new guidelines detail which creators are eligible to participate and what content is appropriate to be supported by advertising.

Transparency is the name of the game. And online superstars like Facebook and YouTube have realised this and move quickly to allay advertisers’ fears. How far will this transparency go?

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