Facebook to let advertisers target users by location

Facebook Inc will start targeting users with advertisements based on their most recent location, as the social-networking company expands the use of member's data to generate revenue.

The ads, which can reach people within a mile of a particular advertiser, will show up for users who have allowed Facebook's mobile application access to their whereabouts, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday. For those who don't share locations, Facebook will continue to use the current city listed on profile pages.

Facebook has rolled out several products this year that are designed to let marketers narrowly target consumers. Last week, the Menlo Park, California-based company added people-based marketing that lets advertisers know whether a user has seen an ad, regardless of what device they're using. Whenever a new initiative is announced, Facebook has sought to reassure users that their private information won't be misused.

"Facebook does not tell advertisers which specific people are in any audience and, as with our other advertising products, all audiences must meet a minimum required size," Facebook said in the blog post. "People have control over the recent location information they share with Facebook and will only see ads based on their location if location services are enabled on their phone."

Separately, the company said that its mobile-advertising network, which was being tested, is expanding to include all marketers and publishers.

The network of mobile apps that have access to Facebook's advertisers will now be able to serve ads with links in them, as opposed to just ads to drive mobile-app installs.