Facebook shakes up ad system
Social networking website Facebook is set to mimic Google by expanding its targeted advertising system, according to a report today.
The system will allow advertisers to target ads at users based on information on personal profile pages when it launches in the autumn, according to today's Wall Street Journal. Last year the majority of Google's $10.6bn (£5.3bn) revenues came from advertising targeted through keywords, either by using search terms or by placing ads on pages that contain those keywords.
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Facebook currently offers basic targeted adverts based on the age, sex and location of users in bundles that cost $10 and above. The new system would allow targeting relevant to users' preferred music, films, travel locations and other information given to the site, while not sharing those details directly with the advertisers.
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Facebook's system would be an automated online booking process, similar to Google's, and could also serve up adverts according to the preferences and tastes of a user's friends. The social networking site already has a display advertising deal with Microsoft that accounts for half its estimated $15m (£7.5m) annual profit.
