Facebook has warned marketing types who use the free-content ad network to tout brands through so-called "promotional Page posts" that they will soon be extirpated.

The Mark Zuckerberg-run company put admen on notice yesterday in a blog post that made it clear that Facebook will only allow brands to promote their own gear if they pay for the privilege.

Advertisers have been using Pages to promote their goods, which in turn has clogged up Facebook's News Feed. The firm naturally sugar-coated its latest strategy by saying that it wanted to offer a better experience to its users.

In fact, Facebook has spotted a loophole that allows ad folk to reach users with their brands for free. And Zuck isn't happy about that.

The network said:

Beginning in January 2015, people will see less of this type of content in their News Feeds. As we’ve said before, News Feed is already a competitive place – as more people and Pages are posting content, competition to appear in News Feed has increased. All of this means that Pages that post promotional creative* should expect their organic distribution to fall significantly over time. This change will not increase the number of ads people see in their News Feeds. The idea is to increase the relevance and quality of the overall stories – including Page posts – people see in their News Feeds. This change is about giving people the best Facebook experience possible and being responsive to what they have told us. While Pages that post a lot of the content we mention above will see a significant decrease in distribution, the majority of Pages will not be impacted by this change.

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* Ex-squeeze me, baking powder?