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Jane Clapp takes a moment between teaching fitness classes in Toronto's Trinity Bellwoods Park to reflect on her unexpected windfall. In the span of a month, her class size has doubled to 15 participants, amounting to about $3,200 in new revenue.

Even more surprising is the source of Ms. Clapp's good fortune - Facebook. Using a new feature on the popular social-networking website called Marketplace, Ms. Clapp promoted her classes and almost immediately former clients and old friends on her contact list noticed. A month later, business is booming.

"I love it," said Ms. Clapp, whose ad has been viewed about 127 times. "I'm completely fascinated with how I can create an online business without any overhead at all."

Ms. Clapp is not the only small business operator who has turned to Facebook to give business a boost. Last month, the rapidly growing site allowed third-party developers to create small applications for its platform, some of which - such as Marketplace - are geared toward small and medium-sized businesses.

Whether it's offering photo portraits, catering services or aerobic class instruction, Facebook's Marketplace has become more than just the online bazaar its name suggests - it has become a gold mine for tech-savvy entrepreneurs looking to tap into a fast growing pool of young and free-spending customers.

"The potential for this is huge," said Charlene Li, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. "The service is still brand new but it's got plenty of room to grow."

With a few clicks, anyone with a Facebook profile can place a job listing, sell their pet rock or post their services. Users can also upload pictures to accompany their ads and see how many people have viewed their listing. There are also upgrades available for those wanting a little more exposure - for $1 they can promote the ad by "sponsoring" it so it shows up prominently in searches. They can also buy banner ads for the same price.

Ms. Li suggests placing advertisements through Marketplace is more effective than other online ad networks such as Craigslist and Google Adwords, because of the personal touch it provides.

"If I know something about the person selling and if that person is in my network, I have a bit more confidence in working with that person," Ms. Li said.

One of the reasons people have flocked to the Marketplace service is that it's free.

"I think that's the best part of having ads on the sites," said James Carter, co-owner of Asylum Tattoo in Port Alberni, B.C. "It costs a few hundred dollars to run a small ad in a newspaper, but here, it's free and more dynamic."

Mr. Carter said that after launching his ad on Facebook's Vancouver network, he has received more than $2,500 in new business and he expects that number to increase.

"All the clients I've gotten through Facebook have been [from] out of town, which is great," Mr. Carter said. "My industry relies heavily on word-of-mouth, so with Facebook I can upload pictures of new clients and tag them so their friends can see my work, which in turn should bring me more clients."

Ms. Clapp said being able to easily connect with friends and extended networks using ads that show up in their news feed is another advantage that the website offers to small businesses. A news feed appears on a user's main page, and alerts them to any changes their friends make to their pages.

" It helps keep my business in their consciousness and increases the number of potential clients I could have," Ms. Clapp said.

By the numbers

7,715,040

Users who have added the Top Friends application, the most-added application on Facebook

680,729

Number of users on the Toronto network, the largest regional network on Facebook

15,714

Total ad postings on the Toronto Marketplace network