[Edit: The reduction of Facebook's ads sizes was first reported by Inside Facebook here. This post has been amended to reflect this.]

So I’ve had some ads running over the lats 30 days or so on Facebook.  Today I went in to place a new ad and I couldn’t understand why my ad copy text was so small.  I kept thinking that the reduced facebook ad size must be a glitch or something.  But then I hit Google and found this…

A new Facebook document uploaded onto Scribd by a number of users suggests that the new ads for Facebook will see the maximum size of images and the number of characters for each ad reduced, Inside Facebook report.

This is no longer a suggestion but fact.  Text characters now allowed are 90 characters for most ads.  Not sure what I think about this, pretty difficult to get your pitch across in 90 characters – I’m sure its another FB change to get more ads squeezed into view.

The article further explains Facebook ad Sizes….

The document, highlights a number of changes to the current format. For example, marketplace ads size have been reduced to 99×72 and 90 characters in the accompanying text instead of the usual 110×80 and 135 character limit.

Premium Ads, while maintaining the limit of 90 characters, will have an image size of 100×80 while Sponsored Stories will have a image size of 168×128. According to the document, the changes will be made on March 31st. However, at time of writing, there were no notifications from Facebook in their business or advertising sections regarding these changes.

The changes are Facebook’s attempt to replace their traditional ads by making them less noticeable and replace them with Sponsored Stories and Premium Ads, which will be given greater prominence come April.

While the reduction in image size may make marketplace ads that much harder to stand out, the shorter text won’t have a particular effect as snappier copy will make it easier to digest and have a better track record of being clicked on.

I’m sure for most marketers and advertisers the Facebook ad size change will take some getting used too.

What do you think?  Good, Bad or Just a Pain?

If you wish to read the entire article, you can find it here.