Facebook launches ad platform

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook on Tuesday began delivering ads to members based on what they do and who they know, following in the footsteps of social networking rival MySpace and triggering Internet privacy concerns.
The move was long awaited by industry analysts wondering how Facebook will cash in on its booming popularity and capitalize on the ad-delivery alliance it made last month with technology giant Microsoft.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement at a conference in New York City a day after industry-leading rival MySpace put finishing touches on an ad system it launched in July.
Zuckerberg billed Facebook Ads as a way to target ads at members in a "referral" manner mirroring the social nature of the California-based website.
"For the last hundred years media has been pushed out to people, but now marketers are going to be a part of the conversation," Zuckerberg told marketing executives at the gathering.
"And theyÂ're going to do this by using the social graph in the same way our users do."
Zuckerberg was joined by "partners" including Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Sony Pictures Television, CBS, Verizon Wireless and Blockbuster.
Companies can advertise on their own profile pages on Facebook as well as spread messages "virally" by linking ads to recommendations or news feeds members send to each other, according to Zuckerberg.
Facebook also says it created "an interface to gather insights into people's activity on Facebook that marketers care about."