Imagine if you could trail your brand's customers and connect with the people they share your content with? That's exactly what two companies, 33Across and Media6Degrees, are aiming to deliver, The New York Times reports.

The pair is looking to dig beyond basic friend lists to cull data from interactions on sites and flag instances when a user visits a friend's page, sends a video, or exchanges an instant message. The goal is to give companies the ability to advertise directly to their existing customers' friends online.

"Instead of understanding all these things about people, you could understand who was connected to who," said Eric Wheeler, the chief executive of 33Across. "The reality is, those people are very similar not only in socioeconomic terms, but in terms of what they click and buy, so it's very valuable."