Facebook's Mobile Future All About Advertising

Facebook users are increasingly accessing the online social network via their mobile devices, a trend the company expects to capitalize on through advertising as it prepares for its IPO. In March, the average Facebook mobile user engaged with the social network for more than 7 hours, according to comScore. That's a lot of head-down time to which Facebook has to respond. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, who was on the road last week talking with investors about the company's growth strategy, said his top priorities this year are to transform Facebook's mobile and advertising experiences and further integrate online apps into the platform, reports Reuters.  With more people than ever using smartphones and accessing sites like Facebook on them, the big question is how the company can make more money with advertising on mobile. You can bet Facebook will figure it out considering advertising is the reason Zuckerberg and other insiders are about to become extremely rich. For users, more advertising on mobile is somewhat of a drag, but there's utility involved as well. A lot of what we're doing on and with our mobile devices is being tracked by scads of application developers and device makers who aim to improve their products and marketing activities because they know what we like, where we go and how we spend our money. Facebook wants that data, too.

The ads we'll be seeing on mobile will increasingly be highly relevant and the time is coming when we'll get offers and ads pushed to our phones the minute we step over a retailer's threshold at the mall. Facebook is "just getting started" with its mobile app, said Zuckerberg, who explained last week at an investor event that as Facebook collects more data, such as location and which friends "like" certain products mobile ads will be better targeted to users. Facebook's initial public offering is set for this week and media outlets are stirring up a frenzy, reporting on everything from whether the company is overvalued at $96 billion to which character traits propel Zuckerberg to give speeches to groups of big-shot investors wearing a hoodie sweatshirt. Facebook's mobile future is also getting a lot of attention. What’s your take? Are you looking forward to getting offers and personalized ads on your phone that can steer you to products Facebook knows you or your friends like? Or will they merely be a deterrent to using Facebook while on the go?