1. A method comprising: receiving an indication from a user to promote an item that is included in an activity stream associated with the user, the activity stream being presented in a social context by a social application; receiving a request for an advertisement; determining the item is responsive to the request; determining one or more advertisements responsive to the request; ranking the item and the one or more advertisements; and providing the item in response to the request rather than the one or more advertisements and based at least in part on the rankings.