Australians and New Zealanders are the guinea pigs in Facebook's latest trial, as the company tests ads in its Groups product.
Baby steps
With the News Feed expected to reach its maximum ad load midway through 2017, Groups are a potential gold mine for Facebook.
There are hundreds of million groups on Facebook, and individual users can join up to 6000.
Canada and Ireland are also involved in the trial as Facebook determines the levels of immediate success and long-term potential for ads in Groups.
Ads all over
Boasting its own standalone app, Groups could pick up a few tricks of its own along the lines of Messenger's sponsored messages.
Popular buy-and-sell groups are also an obvious target for retailers.
But the battle for Facebook remains finding the balance between monetisation, and keeping its user base happy to a point where ads remain a net positive.
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