Will Facebook’s NEW Ad Plan Appease Investors?

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is stepping up its advertising innovation once again by getting ready to unveil a mobile ad program that targets consumers based on the apps they use. The social network will track app use through its Facebook Connect feature, which lets users log into several external websites and programs, including those of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), and Yelp (NYSE:YELP), with their Facebook identity.

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The social network is even debating tracking what users do on the apps, the Wall Street Journal reported. While the new methodology has the potential of being highly lucrative, it is also likely to raise further privacy concerns for Facebook.

The new ads, likely to be announced next month, will appear on mobile devices in Facebook’s News Feed stream. The social network essentially plans to charge advertisers every time an app is installed on a user’s smartphone, thus generating significantly more revenue than the traditional way of charging for every one thousand people who viewed an ad.

Privacy advocates say Facebook should provide ways for users to opt out of the ad targeting. The operating systems of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) also track users’ mobile apps, but approach ad targeting differently. Apple discloses to users in its privacy policy that it can target ads based on apps the person has downloaded from its App Store and iTunes. Neither tracks what people do within the app.

Facebook has been under pressure to add to its revenue streams, especially in the increasingly popular mobile sphere, since it went public in May.

Shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) closed Wednesday down .48% at $31.32 per share.

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