Facebook has publicly confirmed that it is officially taking the initial steps to become a mobile ad network today. The social media giant is currently running ad tests on third-party mobile apps for the first time, wrote VentureBeat.

Facebook engineer Sriram Krishnan announced in a post on the firm's developer blog: "We are running a small test to explore showing Facebook ads in third-party mobile apps. In this test, we'll be extending Facebook's rich targeting to improve the relevancy of the ads people see, provide even greater reach for Facebook advertisers, and help developers better monetize their apps."

This move has been a long-awaited one, and Facebook has used external ads before. However, this test allows Facebook to directly interface with ad publishers and buyers, the report detailed.

According to the social media firm, the new ads will help in the app monetization goals of mobile developers. This is the key to link the surging amount of time spent on mobile with the growing money earned through advertising, the report explained.

Krishnan said only a few partners and advertisers are involved in the program for now. In addition, Facebook is not yet accepting new parties, VentureBeat reported.