Facebook Is Stepping Outside Its Walled Garden

Between apps like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) has taken over quite a bit of average smartphone users' time. However, it appears that accounting for approximately 20 percent of users' time isn't enough for the social media firm— Facebook is looking to infiltrate mobile browsers as well.

Mobile Advertising Push

Mobile advertising is a huge opportunity at the moment, and Facebook's massive user database has made the company a star player.

Because Facebook is able to collect so much information regarding its users, the company can deliver targeted advertising that ensures marketers are reaching the right groups with their campaigns. This dominance has been displayed with Facebook's own advertising platform, but the company is making its expertise available outside the social media network as well.

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The Audience Network

In 2014, Facebook launched the "Audience Network," an advertising option that allows publishers to use Facebook's ad targeting within their own apps.

Piggybacking on that idea, the company is expanding its reach to include the entire mobile web by partnering with publishers in order to add monetized ads to their mobile sites.

So far, the firm has already begun testing a beta product with publishers like USA Today Sports Media Group, Answers.com and Time.

A Blow To Google

For Facebook, the opportunity to expand its advertising arm into the greater mobile web is huge, as it presents the firm with an even wider reach in the industry. However for Google-parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Facebook's advances are troublesome. Google has long been the online advertising behemoth, but Facebook's latest offerings will give publishers a choice when it comes to monetization.

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