Facebook announced this week its partnership with Nielsen to provide ad measurement to advertisers. The product, Nielsen BrandLift, is expected to prove the performance of Facebook display ads. The information will be gathered using surveys that will ask users about their attitudes and purchase intent based on display ads that run throughout Facebook. The surveys will appear on Facebook’s homepage in the same space where sponsored messages currently are. The goal is to have a look and feel that fits within the existing Facebook experience. The frequency of the surveys will be closely monitored. Nielsen BrandLift will launch in the U.S. first with select advertisers and then roll out to all Facebook partners. According to comScore, Facebook pulled a 9.1% share of display ad views in the U.S. in July, landing behind Yahoo but ahead of AOL and Microsoft. I am very interested to see what sort of quantifiable results they report because it will allow me to better evaluate placements on Facebook. Social networking sites accounted for more than 20% of ads viewed online, with MySpace and Facebook accounting for 80% of them. We know there has been a shift in user behavior online and it is only fitting that we begin accurately measuring performance as we do with other leading content sites.

http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/entry/45288/facebook-allies-with-nielsen-to-provide-ad-measurement