Earlier this week, Facebook announced that it had topped 300 million users, and is now making money. Today, Facebook announced that it would be providing information on ads served on its network to a third-party provider, Nielsen. The new agreement between Facebook and Nielsen will have Facebook providing the metrics company with data on the ads shown to users of its network and the response of the users as well as responses from those who didn’t see the ad.

Nielsen will then take the data and package it to sell to advertisers looking to better track their ad spends online. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that the product will be called Nielsen Brand Lift and she will pitch it to marketers at a conference in New York this week.

Sandberg said, "It can't just be you who proves it [advertising data]. It has to be a third party."

Nielsen's Online division head John Burbank said that Nielsen plans to launch a similar service on other websites as well. The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook still has a small percentage of the ads served online with about 9.1% of the market. That number is up from the 6.8% in January.

Part of Facebook's struggle to become profitable involved rolling out new ad formats, such as the new ads that prompt people to take an action. One of these new ads will allow those who sign up to get a free sample of the product being advertised.

Sony Pictures tested the new polling service form Nielsen on Facebook with ads for its films District 9 and Julie & Julia. Sony found that the polls showed a significant increase in awareness based on the ads it ran.