Facebook’s ad tune-up: data will lead to dollars (if users stick around)

Jeff John Roberts's avatarGigaom

Facebook’s (s fb) approach to advertising can feel incoherent, especially when it flings random marketing messages all over a user’s page. In recent months, however, the social network has introduced tools that make its ad operation more sophisticated — and are likely to net it much more money.

News of the latest tune-up came on Tuesday as Facebook(s fb) announced it will let marketers buy “sponsored stories” in a user’s News Feed on the basis of websites that the user has previously visited. Until now, Facebook only let brands buy stories based on a user’s profile — which is created from information the user told Facebook (age, location, “Likes” and so on).

The opportunity to use so-called “retargeting” is likely to be a hit with advertisers who regard ads based on a person’s browsing history to be especially effective and who consider Facebook’s news feed to be prime real estate. One industry executive 

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