There are few things more annoying than advertisements. Whether they’re on the television, the computer, or big posters outside, they annoy us all and yet they still provide a lot of income for the companies that use them and those that display them. Hence, Facebook (News - Alert) is now finding a way to advertise through the television in a rather sneaky manner.

Facebook has been in discussions with VH1 about adding “integrated marketing” into its “Best Week Ever” show. This would essentially be product placement, where Facebook products are referenced during the scenes in a positive manner.

Product placement is not new news. It’s how many shows get sponsors that help keep them on the air, and how many movies get additional funding. Whenever the camera hovers over a computer brand name for a bit too long, when an opening shot pans over a brand name cereal and when a character refers to a car by its name, that’s product placement in action.

However, it’s unusual for Facebook to need to do something like this. After all, it’s a massively popular social network, so why does it need advertising? Perhaps the company is feeling that its time is almost up and that newer social networks are threatening it. Maybe it feels that now that parents are on Facebook, kids are less likely to use it, thus it must increase its attempts to reach out to them through VH1.

Whatever the reason, Facebook’s attempts at creating humorous sketches involving its site are still in need of some fine-tuning and subtlety. Product placement is fine, but a show or episode that’s entirely product placement needs some re-evaluating.

Still, it’s an interesting indication of Facebook’s need to draw in a younger audience, which is not something I ever thought I’d have to say. Perhaps the failure of the Facebook Phone (News - Alert) has spurred the company into disaster control mode, or perhaps it’s just reaching the next stage of the Internet cycle and is no longer the new and cool thing to use.