Facebook ads to get up close and personal?

Facebook is "quietly" assembling a new advertising model that will take advantage of the copious amounts of personal information its members post on their profiles, according to a report on the Wall Street Journal's website.

These new advertisements would not be in the form of traditional graphical advertisements but would rather pepper the "news feed" of network activity, closely monitored by Facebook members who want to see what their friends have been up to.

The WSJ's Vauhini Vara wrote: "People familiar with the plan say Facebook wants to accomplish what Google did with AdWords, which lets anyone place ads next to search results by buying 'keywords' online."

Currently, much of Facebook's advertising revenue relies on a deal with Microsoft. There's no word on what this new advertising model would do to affect that partnership.

Caroline McCarthy writes for CNET News.com