**TL;DR - [here is what this ad is](
https://i.redd.it/dyib2c0odmbx.png)**
Hi all,
We’ve been working on some new ad products. When we’re thinking about new ad products, we want to ensure that what we’re creating is non-intrusive to you guys while remaining valuable to advertisers who are interested in participating in the community.
In conversations with many advertisers, we often hear that Listnookors have already rallied around brands and products they genuinely like, and advertisers want to know how they can be part of that. But at the same time, we want to ensure that our communities remain free and user-controlled.
The solution, which we’re excited to share, is a new type of advertisement that we’re calling Promoted User Posts. This will essentially let an advertiser identify an organic post that they find especially relevant to their brand or product, and promote that in the Sponsored unit you guys are already used to.
How it works:
* A listnookor creates a post with brand-relevant content
* A brand notices the post and indicates to our sales team that they’re interested in promoting the post
* Our sales team reaches out to the author of the post to get explicit permission to use the post as part of a promoted user post
* If permission is given, a promoted user post is created by copying over the content and votes of the original post into a new promoted user post. (The comments will link to the same thread.)
* The original post will remain where it was originally uploaded. The promoted user post comment section will link to the original comments section. See this example for details.
**Note that no posts created by listnookors will be used in this fashion without explicit opt-in approval from the listnookor who created the post. Also - votes on the ad will not count towards karma or votes on the organic thread.**
For a screenshot of a hypothetical example, see [here](
https://i.redd.it/clxsmholmgax.png). (Note that Jenga is not a real advertiser at this time.)
Both of these changes will go live on Thursday, August 4. We’ll be speaking with mod teams ahead of time before any user promoted posts go live in their sublistnooks.
While we’re launching this new avenue for generating more Listnook revenue, we’ll also be shutting down a revenue generating experiment. Our experiment with [affiliate links](
https://www.listnook.com/r/announcements/comments/4mv578/affiliate_links_on_listnook/) has ended for the time being. We’ve decided that focusing our energies on advertising is more congruent with our long term strategy.
Thanks for reading, and happy listnooking!
Cheers,
u/starfishjenga
___
**FAQ**
**Q: I don’t want my content used as an advertisement, how do I avoid this?**
No content will be turned into a promoted post without the submitter’s explicit permission. If you don’t want this to happen, either don’t answer or say no when you’re asked.
**Q: What does the promoted by link point to?**
If a brand pays to promote a post, in the bottom right corner where it says "promoted by", the advertiser will be linked so that you will know who is promoting the post. Clicking on their name will link to an advertiser-determined location. [Please see here for details on what points to where](
https://i.redd.it/clxsmholmgax.png).
**Q: What if my content was originally intended to point somewhere else? Do advertisers have the right to change that? Wouldn’t this change the context of the pre-existing comments?**
Your content won’t be used in this way unless you agree to let it become a promoted user post.
If you’ve commented on a post that becomes a promoted user post, promoted user posts will simply create an additional link to these comments pages. [Please see here for details on what points to where](
https://i.redd.it/clxsmholmgax.png).
**Q: What happens to the original votes? Is this a way for companies to juice the number of upvotes to their posts?**
The vote count from the original post will be copied to the promoted post, but any upvotes applied to the promoted post will not be copied back to the original post in order to preserve the integrity of the ranking algorithm.
**Q: What happens to the original post?**
The original post still remains where it was originally uploaded. The promoted user post comment section will link to the original comments section. See this example for details.
**Q: What does the link in the promoted post point to?**
Promoting a post does not change the destination of the original link. If it was a self post, it goes to the self post comments page. If it was a link post, it goes to the link destination, same as before. [Please see here for details on what points to where](
https://i.redd.it/clxsmholmgax.png)
**Q: Is there a way for us to view where our content was promoted?**
If your content is chosen for promotion and you accept, we’ll give you a link to the promoted user post.
**Q: Do we get anything in return for agreeing to have our post promoted?**
This may vary across content and across time as we figure out what makes the most sense. It will generally take the form of Gold membership for some amount of time.
**Q: Won’t this encourage more users to submit content containing brands (and more fuss from /r/HailCorporate over “shilling”)?**
We don’t believe the rewards on offer are enough to change people’s behavior in this case, but we’ll keep an eye on it and deal with any problems that arise.
___
EDIT: have to go to a meeting but will be back at around noon PT.
EDIT 2: I'm back early because there's some confusion around what this is. Please see link at the top which I'll be updating with a more clear example.
EDIT 3: I believe some listnookors may be confusing this announcement with a different one for [in-feed ad tests](
https://www.listnook.com/r/announcements/comments/4phzsi/sponsored_headline_tests_placement_and_design/) which we announced prior to this.
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