I believe whoever wins the content discovery game wins the next decade. Google+ is the only one I see trying to make strides in this area, but they simply don't have the active user base to back it up. FB has the userbase, it just needs to capitalize on it. Doing so would mean a very big win for the small business sector too; for once, ads would actually engage the user and probably convert to a sale more readily.
More than ads, FB needs to provide tools to content producers, businesses, pages that enable them to capitalize on such opportunities. How difficult would it be to say, "We found that 17-23 year olds whose parents like Tom Petty are 67% more likely to like your brand. Would you like to create a targeted ad for this group?" They already have the data. Businesses would easily pay for that kind of functionality.
By telling them what content I want to see and what I don't want to see, I'm pretty happy knowing that I'm seeing exactly what I told them I wanted to see. Advertisers could do a lot in this space, and it sounds exactly like what you described.
It's hard to think that a user will willfully submit themselves to a page of ads, but I think this might be a good solution. Ads have definitely become smarter in reaching their audience. Seems like companies are finally beginning to understand the creativity needed to get user attention. If you're able to SU through ads that are hyper-targeted, you may see stuff that actually matters to you.
If ads were treated like they were on Youtube - potentially entertaining or thought-provoking bits that people intentionally browse, upvote and share, Facebook would get much less flak for the way they've been trying to monetize their users. It would also promote creativity and thoughtfulness - which is something long term internet users respond to much more than the old blinking text and flash animations strategy.[citation needed]
