New 'Lookalike' Options from Facebook

Facebook is enhancing its Lookalike Audiences tool, launched a year ago, to allow advertisers to create lookalikes based on their site visitors, app users or Facebook fans.

When it was launched, Facebook said the tool would allow marketers to reach individuals who share similar characteristics with those they were targeting through the social network. The new features broaden this to allow lookalikes of existing online customers, as well as their fan base on its own platform.

According to the firm, data will as usual be anonymised to protect privacy. A blog post stated: 'Like other targeting capabilities offered through Facebook, lookalike audiences are designed to protect people's privacy. Lookalike audiences allow marketers to reach specific groups of people without the need for Facebook to share which specific people are in those groups.'

The firm recently rolled out tools for the targeting of core audiences, and has been investing heavily in its mobile capabilities, notably through the $19bn acquisition of messaging service What'sApp.