Facebook, no doubt, is the leading social networking giant, but with its recent efforts in the mobile sector, will it soon become the mobile giant as well?

A report from The Next Web states that Israeli publication Calcalist claims Facebook is in the final stages of acquisition talks with Waze, a crowd-sourced app that gives users community generated real-time traffic and road alerts including accidents, hazards, police traps, and more.

According to the report, the acquisition is going to be a huge one – somewhere between $800 million to $1 billion. Clearly, the deal is seen by Faceboook as a vital one for its efforts dominate the mobile sector across various devices and geographies.

Reports of Facebook acquiring Waze have been bubbling under the surface since 2012, but so far the deal hasn’t come to fruition. Waze was seen as a potential target for Apple ever since its embarrassing Apple Maps kerfuffle, only for the Cupertino-based firm to balk at the seal when Israeli company apparently asked for $750 million.

Question now is, why would Facebook want Waze?  And how would the social giant utilize its technology?

Solidify its foothold on social media

Though Facebook dominates the social realm, there are still some facets of our lives that Facebook hasn’t invaded.  That’s not to say it isn’t intent on getting there though. With Waze adding Facebook sharing of user’s trips and being at the forefront of Facebook Home, it just shows how much the two services are already integrated with each other.

Not all Waze users are Facebook users, but with this level of integration, the line between the two is slowly dissolving, and without people even realizing it they’re getting sucked into Facebook’s black hole.  Plus the fact that people have this urge to share everything they do on Facebook these days just makes the Waze integration and acquisition more sensible. Anyone going on a trip can easily share their location or trip information via Facebook.

Further its mobile efforts

Facebook Home finally hit Android last month, and though many were disappointed not to see a full-blown mobile OS, rumors that it might eventually do so haven’t gone away.  Currently, mobile operating systems like iOS, Android, Symbian, Windows Phone and others all offer their own native maps that help people navigate unfamiliar neighborhoods or foreign lands.

By acquiring Waze, Facebook will be able to bring a comprehensive mapping tool to its users without needing to exert extra effort into developing its own, ensuring that it avoids any Apple-esque mapping mayhem if and when it does launch its own OS.

Locate people

Waze is all about people providing real-time information regarding the places where they’re located.  By using Waze’s technology, Facebook will surely have a much better idea of where people are, and this knowledge brings two obvious benefits – first, it’ll help it to deliver better targeted advertising based on user’s locations, and second, it’s just the kind of technology that’s likely to improve the accuracy of its soon-to-be-released Graph Search functionality, particularly when people’s queries relate to locations of businesses, people etc.