Rumor Control: Facebook Wants Cookies to Target Ads

We're not one to spread rumors, but this one looks to have some weight. Altura Ventures CEO, Lee Lorenzen and Nick O'Neill of AllFacebook are quoting sources claiming that Facebook's rumored ad network is going to involve cookies. Lots, and lots of cookies.

Not the deliciously moist kind, but the kind that keep tabs on your whereabouts while surfing the web. The goal is to combine all the information collected within Facebook user profiles with users' web surfing habits to deliver targeted ads via Microsoft. Lorenzen offers a lengthy explanation of how its supposed to come together on the Adonomics Blog, but we prefer O'Neill's much more succinct game plan:

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.

For example, if this speculation proved true, our love for beer (clearly stated in our Facebook profiles) could be used to deliver Guinness ads during our visits to web pages that employ Microsoft's ad platform. It's not a horrible way to deliver ads, if not a tad intrusive.

What's more intriguing is the possible threat it could pose to Google's AdSense, and the online advertising market at large. It wouldn't be realistic to posit that a Facebook/Microsoft ad product like this would be in sync with users' intent to purchase, but it's guaranteed to have one effect -- a sizable bump in ad rates. We'll see if this rings true after Facebook's reveal on November 6th.