Los Angeles — With a recently disappointing IPO, social networking humongous Facebook is getting more aggressive with advertising. The social media giant is about to launch a new advertising program called Facebook Exchange, a technology meant to more specifically target ads to consumers, which could not only be a massively profitable venture for the company, but according to them, could improve the relevancy of the ads that you and I see on a daily basis.
The service, labeled Facebook Exchange, would empower advertisers to research various types of social network users based on their browser history, according to a spokeswoman.
Besides, it is expected to roll out within weeks. Through the service, advertisers will be able to target ads to Facebook users based on their browsing history, Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta told Bloomberg. The ads will be delivered through third-party demand-side platforms (DSP) including AppNexus, DataXu, MediaMath, AdRoll and Turn, and will be charged based on the cost per thousand views. According to Bloomberg, the new service is also designed to let advertisers deliver more time-sensitive messages.
Expounding on the latest move, the company said: “By bidding on a particular impression rather than a larger group, advertisers are able to show people more applicable ads while also running more efficient and effective campaigns,” the company said in a statement. As an example, Facebook said the exchange would enable a travel site to show an ad to Facebook user who searched for a flight but did not complete the booking.
In fact, the proposition of Facebook Exchange is pretty simple: When you visit a site (other than Facebook) and spend some time looking at a product, but do not make the final purchase — that third-party site will be able to follow you to Facebook and target you there with a highly specialized ad.
On the other hand, let us say that you spent a good time while checking out a new watch on a third-party retailer’s site (that has enlisted a demand-side platform) — let us say Swatch. Although you did not actually end up buying the watch, but you was on the site long enough for them to determine that you was very much interested in it – so they hit you with a cookie.
Hence, if the advertiser (in this case Swatch) wanted to pursue you beyond the walls of its site, the demand-side platform would contact Facebook and use an anonymous User ID to show intent to target you. So, the next time you log in the Facebook, that cookie alerts everyone to your presence and the advertiser is allowed to make a real-time bid to show a pre-rendered ad to you.
Thus, based on users’ listed interests and Facebook “likes,” advertisers will be able to target their campaigns toward people who will likely get the most out of the display.
But according to the company, it says, “We do not share any user data with advertisers and people still have the same control over the ads they see on Facebook that they do today,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.
The real-time aspect of the system means that ads for real-world events, like the Olympics or an NBA game, could pop up following a specific event.
Nevertheless, the new exchange for the social media outfit means more revenue potential from advertisers looking for more ways to reach users they have tracked elsewhere on the Web. It could also bring the social network one step closer to creating the Web-wide ad network that many think is on the way. As for consumers, Facebook says the exchange means more relevant advertising, but it might be a bit of an adjustment. Even though real-time bidding networks operate across the Web, including via Google, it is the first time Facebook has introduced this kind of approach on its platform.