Platform Updates: Upcoming Changes to App Ads and Update to Domain Insights

This week, we're letting you know about some upcoming changes to app ads and a recent update to Domain Insights.

Upcoming Changes to App Ads

We are now aligning mobile app ads to other ad formats by 1) having them be connected to a Facebook Page, 2) adding social context (e.g. indicating when a friend likes a Page) and, 3) adding like, comment, and share buttons.

Desktop (canvas) app ads, have always included like, comment, and share buttons, but will now be connected to a Facebook Page as well. These changes will offer you consistency amongst all your Facebook ads, and will have the added benefit of social context.

Starting July 2nd, you will no longer be able to create or edit app ads in the old format, or edit ad images for app ads currently running that are using the old format, then on August 6th, all app ads (mobile or desktop) that are on the old format will be migrated to the new format.

You should create new mobile app ads and desktop app ads between July 2nd and August 6th as this is the easiest way to ensure your ads will be in the new format, associated with the Pages you want. If you take no action on any app ads still running by August 6th, we will create a new Page for those. If, however, you would like to inform Facebook of Pages you would like to associate with any app ads still running by August 6th, we set up an API solution, which you can use directly or through a Preferred Marketing Developer. This will help us associate the right Page for both your mobile app ads and desktop app ads when we transition to the new format. Details on that solution can be found here.

For frequently asked questions, please see our app ads FAQ.

Update to Domain Insights

We have made a change in how Domain Insights determines the domains for which any event (post, click, impression) is recorded. This update will make it easier for you to see all of your Facebook traffic if you use multiple subdomains. Previously we would only show the event of the domain for which it occurred. Within the next couple of days we will now show each event against the domain as well as each of the parent domains.

For example, suppose a person clicks on a link for http://someredirector.com which does a HTTP redirect to http://some.example.domain.com. Previously, we would have recorded the click in the Domain Insights for someredirector.com and for some.example.domain.com - and if you viewed the Domain Insights for example.domain.com or domain.com you would not see the click. If you had a large set of subdomains you would need to monitor Domain Insights for all of them.

With these changes we will now record the event in Domain Insights for someredirector.com, some.example.domain.com, example.domain.com, and domain.com - you will now be able to see the sum of all subdomain activity in the Domain Insights for domain.com.