The social-networking site, which publicized its findings through a press release and at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX conference in New York, likened the findings to a term used by TV marketers, known as "reach." The findings were presented at the conference by Brad Smallwood, Facebooks head of measurement and insights.

"While these conclusions might seem familiar to traditional marketers who use TV, they represent a substantial shift from the focus on click-optimization that is more typical of digital campaign planning," Facebook said.

Facebook's announcement comes soon after its partnership with Datalogix, revealed last week, has generated controversy over how it might impact users' privacy.

Datalogix, based in Westminster, Colorado, collects data on what people buy through loyalty card programs administered by retailers. Those loyalty card users are matched to their Facebook profiles using hashes, or cryptographic representations, of users' email addresses that they've given to both retailers and Facebook, an arrangement Facebook maintains does not violate its promise to transfer personal data to other parties.

The Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission last week, asking the regulatory agency to examine the privacy implications of the deal. Facebook automatically enrolls users in the program. They can opt-out by filling out a form Datalogix's website but not directly through Facebook.