Healthcare ads move to Facebook

Advertising related to healthcare reform legislation has begun to creep onto Facebook pages across the Web as the debate intensifies in the Senate.

You may have noticed an ad (at left) depicting Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as selfishly blocking the public option even though the majority of Connecticut voters are for it. The ad links to the video  (below the jump), and was created by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Political ads are more commonly found in Google's paid search results and on big sites run by Yahoo or AOL. But Facebook is starting to see an influx of healthcare-related ads as the Senate debate continues.

"It is difficult to track this type of advertising on Facebook because much of it is conducted through a self-serve system," said Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes. "However, we have witnessed waves of healthcare-related ads, but no sustained purchases."

Google has seen healthcare ads ebbing over the past few weeks. Ads related to the debate peaked in August when members held town hall meetings all over the country. Ad activity spiked again in mid-November, around the time the House passed the healthcare package.

Google's sales team has seen a drop in healthcare-related ads, but some groups like Health Care for America Now are still placing some display ads in Washington. Immigration and climate seem to be gaining ground in issue ads in anticipation of legislative activity in January, said Google spokesman Galen Panger.

Terms related to healthcare did pour into Google's search engine, though, as shown by Google's Zeitgeist list.