Facebook wants to use the knowledge it has gathered about its 1.3 billion users to also place targeted advertisements on websites outside the social networking site. With this, Facebook continues to compete with Google.
The new advertising platform will be called Atlas. With Atlas, Facebook wants to give advertisers the opportunity to place targeted advertisements on thousands of websites. Mobile apps should also be served ads via the Atlas platform, while Facebook subsidiary Instagram will also participate in the new advertising program.
Analysts say Facebook can deliver narrowly defined user groups to advertisers thanks to the vast amount of knowledge the company has accumulated about its users, The New York Times reported. In addition, Facebook can generate a new revenue stream if it manages to find enough partners who are willing to provide advertising space.
With Atlas, Facebook is competing with Yahoo, but especially with Google, a company that also has huge amounts of data from its users. However, Facebook could have a slight advantage, as the social networking site requires users to use their own name. Facebook could also closely monitor what its users are up to online on mobile devices, among other things.