Its been a long time since we have reported on new Facebook updates (well, “long” in terms of Facebook…) and today we have some new updates from the popular social network to tell you about:  New expandable Premium ad units and new “People Talking About” analysis metric.

Facebook has “leaked” those updates to many sources online and the company suppose to officially announce them tonight, so i may have to correct or sharpen few points later on.

Expandable Premium Ad Units

I guess Facebook isn’t satisfied enough from the $4 billion in ad revenue it estimated to earn in 2011, because the (profitable) social network is now launching new expanded ad units- Combined ads with social friend interactions.

Facebook stated that whenever advertising is combined with social engagement, it is much more relevant and better for all (brands and people). The ad units will expand (when available) and show friends engagement. Here is an example of expended Premium Ad Unit screenshot provided by Facebook:

“People Talking About”

This analysis tools will be added to the Pages Insights and designated to give the users better understanding on the most interesting contents that relates to a page. It also suppose to encourage page owners to create more engaging contents.

The “People Talking About” metric will measure contents according to the users activity with them- “Likes”, comments, sharing with others, writing on the page’s wall and more similar social activities.

In addition, Facebook emailed to online sources that it will improve drastically the Pages Insights to include more segments for the content data analysis. Here is photo of the new Pages Insights sent by Facebook: