Facebook Classifieds and Sponsored Listings

Post your classified ads on Facebook! Mashable reports Facebook's classifieds are now open. From my area there are two classified ads running but I expect the page will fill quickly. What caught my attention is the "Sponsored Listings" links on the classifieds pages.

This venue will be valuable to local advertisers. I look forward to seeing their self serve ad center. In the meantime we'll test the classifieds and gauge the response.

It's not a Craigslist killer but that's not the intent. It looks like Facebook is constructing a market place with the user's interest in mind, not necessarily the bottom line. Very refreshing.

Great read on the subject by Muhammad Saleem of Pronet Advertising.

Update: I emailed Facebook regarding when their sponsored ad links will go live and received this response;

"Our Sponsored Listing section is not currently available. When it does
become available, you will be able to create a listing that you can
place in networks other than the one(s) you currently belong to for a
fee. Please keep an eye out for this feature in the next few weeks.
Sorry for any inconvenience in the mean time.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,"

This will be interesting. Pay to advertise your classified ad elsewhere on the site or will (outside) advertisers be able to open a pay per click account?
Facebook has licensed the tech to do it (from LookSmart last summer) so I assume it will be an open system for all advertisers. LookSmart's AdCenter now supports geo-targeting as seen here on their tech partner NBCSearch.com's advertiser center.
The stage appears set for buying PPC ads on Facebook. Pizza venders everywhere are (or should be) rejoicing!