Paid posts growth: Facebook seeks more paid ads

Wall Street Journal :: Facebook's explosive growth attracted Omaha, Neb.-based retailer Gordmans to set up a free page on the site as a virtual hangout to have conversations with customers. "The cost was the time it took to build the content and post it," said Veronica Stecker, Gordmans' media manager. The retailer didn't pay a dime to Facebook.

But last year, as Facebook added more components to its site, and users shared exponentially more content with friends, Gordmans' free messages started getting drowned out, said Ms. Stecker. "There is simply more competition," she said. These days, she rarely even finds unpaid Gordmans posts in her own personal News Feed, the home page that displays status updates from users' friends, she said.

And Gordmans isn't alone.

Continue to read Geoffrey A. Fowler | Shayndi Raice, online.wsj.com