Dive Brief: 

• Facebook is laying the groundwork, using Web behavior for its ad targeting, to become a real competitor to Google. 
• As of now, Facebook is only using the data to serve ads on the social platform, but it could potentially open a broader ad network on other sites. 
• The social giant has been expanding its data with firms like SocialCode to prove that its ads are effective at driving purchases — something Google often gets the credit for. 

Dive Insight: 

It's been clear to many marketing analysts for a while that Facebook was gearing up to expand its advertising outside of the social site. If it makes the leap, it will be the first time Google has had any real competition from an ad network that possesses a similar scope of data. A move from Facebook could seriously shake up online advertising.