Meet Facebook's Atlas: The platform for advertisers to track your movements

Atlas, Facebook's advertising platform, is now open for business following an overhaul from the ground up.

First acquired from Microsoft last year by the social media giant, Atlas was reportedly in the middle of a revamp following Facebook's acquisition. However, it seems the platform has been completely rewritten for use on the social media website, according to a company blog post .

The company said Atlas has been rebuilt "from the ground up" to cater for today's marketing needs, such as "reaching people across devices and bridging the gap between online impressions and offline purchases."

"Atlas delivers people-based marketing, helping marketers reach real people across devices, platforms and publishers," Atlas says. "By doing this, marketers can easily solve the cross-device problem through targeting, serving and measuring across devices. And, Atlas can now connect online campaigns to actual offline sales, ultimately proving the real impact that digital campaigns have in driving incremental reach and new sales."

Advertisers often have to rely on cookies to track advert interactions, and as people spend more time than ever on their devices -- shopping, comparing and researching -- mobility had led to a shift in consumer behavior and purchase decisions. While 10 years ago you may have stayed local when shopping, for example, the Internet has led to increased competition and wider consumer choice.

The problem is closing the gap between devices and purchase decisions -- as cookies do not work well on mobile. As a result, demographics, data collection, advert targeting and measuring have all become less accurate than before. This leaves marketers at a disadvantage in a changing commercial world. 

In order to solve this issue, Facebook wants to use what Atlas calls "people-based marketing." According to reports, the social media giant will be able to use Atlas' new code base to 'anonymously' track individuals across a range of devices. As an example, a purchase made on a PC could be traced back to an ad impression from a smartphone or tablet.

In addition, adverts generated from Atlas partners can be tailored across other websites depending on the data Facebook has on a group of users -- such as age, sex and location.