FaceBook is launching an ad exchange which will allow advertisers to bid on ads and target those ads to very specific users. Currently ads on FaceBook do not provide a high level of targeting, covering instead broad swaths of interests. And example is travel advertising. Currently ads are sent to FaceBook users that have shown an interest in travelling. An ad exchange will use cookies that will allow ads to be targeted to a user who searched for flights to Puerto Vallarta but did not complete the purchase.
The exchange will be rolled out in the next few weeks. For now, purchases are limited to eight firms that resale the spots to advertisers. These firms are all currently involved in depositing cookies on users and they will integrate their cookies into a FaceBook cookie, so the exchange will not be starting from scratch.
Another change this marks for the social media agency is that FaceBook is no longer focused on ads that point internally. Normally FaceBook has been hesitant to point outside the FaceBook ecosystem for continued browsing and purchases. This change in attitude, it is expected, will have effects in other areas of FaceBookâs dealings with third parties. Privacy concerns will be raised, but the social media agency will now be able to collect data on users not only within the FaceBook ecosystem but will also learn about their larger internet uses.