You might want to think twice the next time you update your Facebook status with, “Someone send me a pound of gummy bears and a gigantic chocolate rabbit”: Facebook is in the process of testing ad targeting that would work off your real-time conversations.

Right now the model is being tested on 1% of Facebook users, which is about 6 million people, reports AdAge. While there area already targeted ads and “sponsored stories” in the margins of Facebook feeds, this shift is significant due to the fact that it works as you post, as opposed to an aggregator that collects data about you over time.

The company says delivering ads at the speed of a few seconds, or less, involves a complex algorithm continuously perfected and changed. Of course, Facebook thinks this whole thing is a fantastic idea.

“The long-held promise of local is to deliver timely, relevant and measurable ads which drive actions such as commerce, so if Facebook is moving in this direction, it’s brilliant,” said Reggie Bradford, CEO of Facebook software and marketing company Vitrue. “This is a massive market shift everyone is pivoting toward, led by services such as Groupon. Facebook has the power of the graph of me and my friends placing them in the position to dominate this medium.”

Tests are said to be ongoing “indefinitely.”

This could possibly be more annoying than having all those recipes for Spam casserole advertised in my email inbox.
Facebook Test Mines Real-Time Conversations for Ad Targeting [Advertising Age]

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