Facebook Launching the Google Adsense Killer
Posted by Nick O'Neill on October 29th, 2007 6:27 PMEarlier today Lee Lorenzen of Altura Ventures sent me a message referencing a note where he postulates about Facebook’s upcoming ad network. He brought up something that I previously hadn’t thought of: the opening of Facebook’s ad network. Imagine if Facebook, who now has access to over 50 million users’ personal information could target ads based on those profiles anywhere on the web. It’s not far fetched and it is exactly what Facebook will be announcing on November 6th when they announce the SocialAds network.
After speaking with an individual with specific knowledge of how the network is being structured, I was informed that Facebook will be leveraging the cookies installed in users’ browsers after logging into Facebook in order to target them across the web. In the instance that the user doesn’t have one of the Facebook cookies installed, ads similar to those of what Google currently provides will be displayed. Now for those wondering why on earth Microsoft would invest $240 million in Facebook (while Steve Ballmer strategically played down the value of Facebook), this is it.
Thanks to their advertising partnership, Microsoft will now be able to provide targeted ads not only based on demographic data (location, age, gender, etc), but they will also know that the person visiting your site is interested in skiing and guitar. So how much money will Facebook make from this? A ton. Higher CPMs and CPCs will create a new competitive landscape between Google and Facebook. Facebook to Google: we are gunning for you.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
The facebook ads that are displayed now are appallingly targeted. Most of mine are invitations to meet girls, but FB knows, that I am married, so why is it bothering?
October 29th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
[…] and Facebook collaboration on advertising that extends outside of Facebook’s walled garden. As Nick O’Neill speculates, this would entail Facebook utilizing cookies to feed up advertisements around the Web based on a […]
October 29th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Interesting, this also explains why they recently changed their login interface to use permanent cookies, allowing multiple browser sessions to remain logged in.
October 29th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
[…] and Facebook collaboration on advertising that extends outside of Facebook’s walled garden. As Nick O’Neill speculates, this would entail Facebook utilizing cookies to feed up advertisements around the Web based on a […]
October 29th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
This is very interesting, but I see some potential drawbacks, which I post about here:
http://webcommunityforum.com/2007/10/facebook-advertising-will-microsoft-extend-targeting-to-third-party-sites/
October 29th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
This is massive - great scoop.
October 30th, 2007 at 3:17 am
I fully agree with the fact that they will allow targeting over the Facebook website however gaining access to Facebook cookies (and therefore targeting) on other sites is simply not technically possible.
It would be a security nightmare and as such browsers do not allow it.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:20 am
[…] le cas de Lee Lorenzen, qui a apparemment échangé quelques messages avec Nick O’Neill sur le projet de « Social Ads » du réseau. […]
October 30th, 2007 at 9:25 am
[…] le cas de Lee Lorenzen, qui a apparemment échangé quelques messages avec Nick O’Neill sur le projet de « Social Ads » du réseau. […]
October 30th, 2007 at 9:48 am
[…] If you want to read more about the facebook ad-words rumors, check out facebook launching the google adwords killer. […]
October 30th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Suddenly I see myself deleting my Facebook profile.
October 30th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Goog 2007 rev = ~$17b
FB 2007 rev = ~$150m - $75m MSFT fear $ = $75m
Goog 2001 rev = $86m
Goog cap ex through 2007 = ~$5.84b
Goog has proprietary software and hardware configs rivaling any commercially avail solution = roughly 10x computing advantage
Goog = 17k employees year end 2008
FB = 700 employees year end 2008
“Facebook Launching the Google Adsense Killer” make fun talk but probability = lower than winning the lottery.
Wait, $15b private valuation with 300 employees and $75b rev IS winning the lottery.
Q: can Zuck win the lottery twice? Not likely, but we won’t have to worry about it until somewhere around 2012. That is, if you gave FB a management team, 15k employees and $6b to invest wisely and they could do so by tomorrow.
MSFT = desperate. GOOG = smart to fake interest in FB to make investment more expensive for MSFT.
October 30th, 2007 at 11:56 am
[…] Lee Lorenzen, of Altura Ventures and Facebook application company Adonomics, cites sources in Microsoft and Facebook as well as other developers during a long essay on the possibility of Facebook using cookies to track users, while AllFacebook confirms the rumor. […]
October 30th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
[…] internal click-thru rates for Facebook are historically low, under their new advertising system, click-thru rates would be potentially higher given that they are targeted ads on less […]
October 30th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Nate…exactly what i was thinking..
Regarding cookie ads. cookie ads will die faster than pop up ads..how long will it take for browsers (except ie, of course) or third party internet security companies to create cookie blockers ..ad cookie blockers to make it worst. I am sure some anti virus/internet security companies are already deploying one.
Regarding data on FB, data on fb is very vague
Another PR stunt to hype Facebook valuation.
October 30th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Q: Anyone know of any technological barrier to Goog doing the same cookie trick by categorizing users based on search history?
History = true intentions vs. self reported demo info on FB is peer driven.
October 30th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
[…] far beyond its website, much like Google’s AdSense. Now others are confirming it. A source told AllFacebook the SocialAds ad network Facebook will announce in New York on November 6 will work by […]
October 30th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
[…] is preparing to take on Google with its own social ad network. The announcement of what people are already calling SocialAds is expected next week on November 6 at New York’s ad:tech conference (a day after Google was […]
October 30th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Adversiting on the Internet makes sense given the diversity of the platform and the variety of applications available.
I don’t see Facebook doing this. It’s as silly as so many closed networks of the past. Google is secure.
October 30th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
[…] everyone wants to talk about how Facebook is building “a Google killer,” and how the search-advertising giant with the $200-billion market cap is “afraid” of […]
October 30th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
[…] STOP CALLING THINGS “_________ KILLER” It devalues your journalistic integrity. [From Facebook Launching the Google Adsense Killer - The Unofficial Facebook Blog] You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not […]
October 30th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
[…] on November 6th. While we now know that Facebook will target users when they are browsing outside of Facebook, we don’t know when the actual network will launch. According to closely tied sources, […]
October 30th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
[…] das könnte der GoogleAdsense-Killer sein. Vorausgesetzt Facebook wird das weltgrößte SocialNetwork (und ehrlich gesagt […]
November 1st, 2007 at 1:41 am
[…] Facebook Launching the Google Adsense Killer - The Unofficial Facebook Blog “Microsoft will now be able to provide targeted ads not only based on demographic data (location, age, gender, etc), but they will also know that the person visiting your site is interested in skiing and guitar.” (tags: Google facebook Microsoft Advertising adsense socialsoftware) Book Mark it-> del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | […]
November 1st, 2007 at 6:08 am
[…] Et c’est probablement ce que compte faire Facebook (ce sujet a notamment été abordé ici, là et là). On peut d’ores et déjà avoir une idée des possibilités de ciblage en regardant […]
November 1st, 2007 at 9:21 am
[…] to Lee Lorenzen, of Altura Ventures, and AllFacebook, the “Social Ads” advertising service Facebook is supposedly set to launch next week […]
November 2nd, 2007 at 1:54 pm
[…] Facebook böse Absichten, denn Google will die Profildaten über seine Schnittstellen auslesen und Facebook gar Cookies auf den Rechnern seiner User installieren, die deren gesamten Internetverkehr mitlesen […]
November 3rd, 2007 at 6:37 am
[…] y a eu beaucoup de spéculations sur le nouveau réseau publicitaire que Facebook lancera Jeudi prochain à la conférence ad:tech de […]
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:41 am
[…] has been endless speculation around the new advertising network that Facebook will be launching next Tuesday at ad:tech in New […]
November 5th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
[…] Facebook????????ad:tech??????????????????????????????…??????????? […]
November 7th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
[…] fine di ottobre, quest’ idea era trapelata anche sul blog non ufficiale di Facebook, ed era stata subito definita come “the Google Adsense Killer”. In questi giorni la […]
November 9th, 2007 at 11:36 am
[…] cookie technology that I previously suggested Facebook would eventually use appears to be something that Google is already using. Google is in […]
November 15th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
[…] far beyond its website, much like Google’s AdSense. Now others are confirming it. A source told AllFacebook the SocialAds ad network Facebook will announce in New York on November 6 will work by […]
November 16th, 2007 at 10:07 am
[…] only solution I see for Facebook is to extend their advertising platform outside of Facebook as I previously suggested that the would soon start to do. Aside from that, I’m not sure what else Facebook can do to […]
November 26th, 2007 at 8:17 am
[…] Allfacebook reported October 29th that Facebook was planning on launching a Google Adsense killer, or competitor. Business Week basically said if a friend books a vacation on a Facebook partner site, the partner site will have the ability to display that friend’s picture as part of an on-line ad to entice other friends to book a vacation. Companies will profit from your face, morons. “Hey look, your drunk ass friend purchased Bill O’Reilly’s Culture Warrior from Amazon, so should you!” […]
March 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
i think adwords is more powerful than any other ad networks.