Facebook ads fail, but free publicity works

The best things in life are free -- including advertising on Facebook. VC blogger Fred Wilson is putting his money where his mouth is, helping dissolve the hype around some of Facebook's new ad products by doing some real-world testing. Wilson tried the new targeting capabilities of Facebook Flyers. He writes, "So far, not much success. In fact, none." So far, according to the pictured chart, Wilson's ad has seen 435 impressions and received zero clicks. Thanks to word of mouth, the Facebook page Wilson created for Union Square Ventures, however, is garnering almost 1,000 pageviews a day -- free of charge.