Facebook makes risky bet on News Feed ads that track you

The social network's latest attempt to goose revenue exposes an elephant in News Feed: advertisers are always watching.

Forget the fluffy promise of increased engagement. Facebook knows the quickest way to make more money is to give advertisers what they really want: immediate results. The social network is doing just that by opening up its News Feed to retargeted ads, eerily aware messages that marketers love and members won't be able to miss.

Facebook announced Tuesday that it had started a small test to let advertisers and agencies use Facebook Exchange (FBX) to serve retargeted ads -- specifically called "Page post link ads" -- to your News Feed, which, of course, is Facebook's prime real estate. These ads take into account people's browsing behavior outside Facebook, as captured through cookies, with the aim of offering up messages about products they've already shown interest in.

Previously, Facebook was only letting advertisers pitch members with these types of ads, which link out to landing pages and allow for conversion-tracking, in the oft-ignored right-hand sidebar of the site. Now that the ads are running in News Feed, Facebook members can't ignore them. That's great for advertisers, fantastic for Facebook, especially as its under pressure to boost revenue, but it's a risky maneuver that reminds people that they're always being watched.

"It's going to be interesting to see if consumers balk at this," Rebecca Lieb, digital advertising analyst with Altimeter Group, told CNET.

It's not that consumers are unfamiliar with retargeted ads. These types of units, which follow people as they browse the Web, have been around for years, and are a particular favorite with display advertisers -- primarily because they work. Rather, Lieb cautions, it's the coupling of personal data with prominent placement in News Feed, an unmistakable zone, that could be off-putting and sound the creepy alarm.

The ads are low-hanging fruit: so easy to harvest that Facebook can't help itself even though they may leave a sour taste.

"You looked at that laptop. You looked at that purse. You looked at those shoes. And there they are in your News Feed," Lieb said. "There are still plenty of consumers who don't understand how this works and might find this a little jarring ... not that it hasn't happened to them before, but because it happens in their Facebook News Feed."

The placement is further amplified by the twice-as-big size of advertisements running in Facebook's redesigned News Feed.

Creepy though the ads may be, they bring with them the promise of higher returns for advertisers and more immediate revenue for Facebook.

By December 2012, Facebook said FBX served nearly one billion impressions and supported more than 1,300 advertisers each day, which means demand was already high prior to the retargeted ads appearing in News Feed. Adobe's advertising customers running retargeting campaigns through FBX noticed 70 percent higher conversion rates than the average rate from all eight supply sources studied, according to results published in February.

"This is a quicker revenue win for Facebook," Lieb said.

These retargeted units, unlike Facebook's Sponsored Story unit, are far from nuanced. Instead of garnering more "likes," shares, and comments, advertisers can buy the right to sell you something they know you checked out, and they'll know, not infer, whether the message worked. As such, Lieb believes Facebook can charge a higher premium for the units and sell more. The company is speaking to advertisers in a language they understand, she said.

Facebook, by adding retargeted ads to News Feed, appears to be talking in a dialect that investors can better interpret as well. The social network's stock, which has steadily fallen since its fourth-quarter earnings report, fared unusually well Wednesday. After losing 20 percent in value in less than two months, Facebook shares ended the day up more than 3.5 percent at $26.09.

FBX-delivered ads in News Feed are a potential stopgap -- a Plan B revenue-growth strategy that appeases advertisers and investors as the company figures out how to profit from units that are more native to the Facebook experience.

While Facebook educates advertisers on more complex, more customized products -- a.k.a. content marketing in the form of Sponsored Stories linked to status updates -- FBX-delivered Page post link ads in News Feed offer advertisers a highly targeted, but not highly customized product, Lieb said.

Facebook's biggest challenge will be proceeding cautiously enough so as not to scare people away but expeditiously enough to grow revenue by large enough margins that satisfy investors, a bunch that has proven fickle in its favor for the company's business.

George Zimmerman's brother says Twitter rant a "mistake"

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The brother of George Zimmerman, the man charged in the 2012 shooting death of unarmed black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, said on Wednesday he was wrong to tweet a series of racially charged comments about his brother's case.

"I made a mistake," Robert Zimmerman Jr. said during an appearance on CNN's Piers Morgan Live. "It unfortunately may not have helped George."

George Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder for killing Martin, who was 17, after an altercation in a residential neighborhood in Sanford, Florida.

Prosecutors contend George Zimmerman, then a neighborhood watch captain, racially profiled Martin, then pursued and shot him while Martin was returning from a convenience store to a townhouse where he was staying with his father.

Robert Zimmerman this week posted side-by-side photos of Martin and one of two teenagers arrested last week in a fatal shooting of a 13-month-old boy as his mother was pushing his stroller down the street in a coastal Georgia town.

The separate photos showed Martin and the teenager posing while making an obscene gesture.

Robert Zimmerman wrote in a tweet, "a picture is worth a thousand words ... any questions?" In another tweet, he said, "Lib media shld ask if what these2 black teens did 2 a woman&baby is the reason ppl think blacks mightB risky."

Morgan, in his interview with Zimmerman, called the tweets "incendiary" and "bordering on outright racism."

"I understand this was controversial and I apologize," Robert Zimmerman said.

Mark O'Mara, George Zimmerman's lawyer, has criticized Robert Zimmerman's tweets.

George Zimmerman's trial is set to start in June.

Chavez rejects US accusations against Venezuelans

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday condemned as laughable a U.S. government decision to blacklist four of his allies for allegedly aiding Colombian rebels.

He challenged Washington to present proof and said he is starting his own "Chavez list" of international rogues that would include some U.S. lawmakers and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday accused a Venezuelan general, an intelligence official and two other political allies of Chavez of providing arms, security and training to Colombia's main rebel group.

"The list the Treasury Department has released ... is something to laugh at," …

Duke rolls past Clemson 92-37 to stay unbeaten

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Jasmine Thomas scored 14 points to help No. 3 Duke beat Clemson 92-37 on Wednesday night to remain the only unbeaten team in the country.

Tricia Liston added 12 points for the Blue Devils (20-0, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), who got their 14th consecutive win over the Tigers.

Duke will face No. 2 UConn at Storrs, Conn., on Monday.

Krystal Thomas added 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Chloe Wells added 11 points for Duke.

Chelsea Gray had 10 points for the Blue Devils, who shot 50 percent from the floor and posted season highs for victory margin (55), 3-pointers (12) and steals (23).

Duke led 59-12 at halftime after spurts of 18-0 and 24-0, …

SHe Said

"Stereotypes are funny. It might not be politically correct, but sometimes stereotypes are there for a reason. (Pointing to a photo of a boy in a spandex figure skating outfit...) I mean, come on! He knew! "

- Shann Carr, a lesbian stand-up comedian and author of a new book titled "You're Going to be Gay!", in an interview in the Desert Sun, Apr. 19, 2008. The soft-cover book contains the childhood photos of 50 GLBT adults, alongside funny quotes about growing up gay.

"When you're a woman, a person of color, openly gay, business owner, you bring all that with you to the table. I've been that woman with the kids going to look for an apartment and watch the person walk by me …

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ND univ cancels classes to help with sandbagging

High school and college students were let out of class Monday to help with sandbagging as residents raced to hold off a threat of flooding from the rising Red River.

City officials planned to fill more than 1 million sandbags, but with more rain forecast they increased the need to nearly 2 million sandbags _ about 500,000 each day by the end of the week.

"We're confident that we can get the bags delivered," said Bruce Grubb, Fargo's enterprise director. "Getting them made is a more daunting challenge."

North Dakota State University canceled classes Monday and Fargo high schools also excused students to help.

"The …