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Facebook to serve ads based on app data

Facebook is to debut an ad targeting service based on the apps that consumers use.

The social network will target ads based on the data it collects through Facebook Connect, a system where a Facebook login can be used to access millions of websites and apps.

According to the Wall Street Journal, sources say that Facebook might decide to also track what people do when using the apps. The new ads are expected to be announced next month and will appear on mobile devices in Facebook’s news feed.

The difficulties Facebook has faced in monetising its vast mobile user base is one of the reasons attributed to its disappointing debut on the NASDAQ in May. The app data it will collect could prove to significantly redress those issues with the social network able to charge advertisers every time an app is installed on a users’ smartphone.

Traditional mobile ad-networks track the ads people have clicked on through a phone’s browser but are not aware of the apps that user owns or uses.

Some of the apps that can be logged into with Facebook Connect include Amazon, LinkedIn, Yelp and Zynga’s portfolio of social games including Words with Friends and Draw Something.

Facebook has more than 900 million users and has been bulking out its sources of ad revenue, adding real-time-bidding services and automating more of its trading systems earlier this year.

The social network has also launched its own app centre which debuted in the UK last week.

David Hing, London