Microsoft may have won the battle for Facebook, but it may not realize what that win means for the online marketing business.

Validation. It's the first word that came to mind when I heard the news about Microsoft taking a stake in Facebook. Validation that social networks can be valued so highly. Validation of the notion that people align themselves online according to their interests and lifestyles. Validation that the true value of the online medium is derived from human relationships and communication.

Then I heard that for Microsoft, this was a network advertising deal, and I nearly died from asphyxiation as I rolled around on the floor, laughing my patootie off for a full five minutes.

Prior to the announcement of the deal, it was something of an industry joke that MSN was the exclusive seller of banner ads on Facebook. Agencies were privately snickering at MSN like they might laugh at that clueless rich kid in high school whose parents bought him an expensive sports car before he could really drive.

The laughs at Microsoft's expense might be justified. Banner ads are a much less significant value to advertisers and marketers than are the unique marketing products developed by Facebook.

As I mentioned in my column last week, Facebook groups represent a great way to rally brand enthusiasts and give them an online focal point. Sponsored Facebook groups are one better -- a way to spread awareness, favorability and purchase intent virally. And that's just one ad product that Facebook has in its arsenal that represents a blending of the better attributes of paid advertising and of viral marketing.

This deal with Microsoft gives Facebook what it wants on many fronts -- an insane valuation that made the Squawkbox crowd crow loudly about the arrival of the second internet bubble, cash to expand its employee base, and a partner that's happy to sell banner ads that represent yesterday's news in terms of marketing value.

So MSN gets access to inventory and some new ways to target banner ads. So what?

The real value inherent in Facebook is the platform it gives to online marketers. Notice I didn't say "advertisers." I'm choosing my words carefully.

Online marketers have learned over the course of the last several years that effectiveness of online marketing (and yes, even advertising) increases exponentially when behavioral targeting techniques are applied. The difficulty with BT is that it's tough to scale. Targeting technologies need access not only to behavioral data, but also to vast amounts of online ad inventory in order to truly leverage what they have.

Think about look-a-like targeting for a second and the idea that people leave a behavioral fingerprint that marketers can use to find others like them through targeting technologies, and thus increase their marketing effectiveness. I think many of my agency colleagues would agree with me that this behavioral targeting technique is a much more effective way of reaching the right target and boosting sales than, say, demographic targeting.

Now, think of how this concept applies to Facebook and social networks like it.  Because people align themselves according to interests and lifestyles, there's a lot of actionable data out there to help target marketing programs. The big bonus that Facebook gives advertisers derives from how people use Facebook -- not only do they choose to direct their activities on Facebook according to their interests, but they're also influenced by their friends.

By way of example, last week I started a Facebook group for executives at independent online agencies. This is a very narrow audience in every sense of the phrase. I had two dozen friends from my list of connections that I invited to join the group. Those who accepted the invitation kicked off a viral effect that would be tough to turn off even if I wanted to. Their friends saw that they joined the group. Since independent agency executives know other independent agency executives, within a day I started getting requests from people I didn't even know to join the group.

Now, rather than doing some sort of expensive outbound communication (like a targeted email), I instead have qualified people coming to me. Apply these marketing principles to a for-profit endeavor and you've got a formula for launching targeted marketing programs that don't cost very much.

When you consider how people and companies can market effectively on Facebook, is it any wonder that banner ads seem to be an inconsequential part of the equation?

If this is truly not much more than a network advertising deal for Microsoft, I don't blame people for laughing. Microsoft may have prevented Google and others from gaining a competitive foothold, but in doing so may not have fully realized the value of its investment.

Tom Hespos is the president of Underscore Marketing and blogs at Hespos.com. Read full bio.