Methods and apparatus are disclosed for media access control (MAC) layer processing to support social networking and advertisements over the MAC layer of a local personal area network (PAN). An application interface permits a service category corresponding to the application to be selected, and further permits service announcements corresponding to the application to be advertised. Generator logic may generate the service announcements to be advertised. The MAC layer processor inserts the service announcements into beacons in the local MAC layer of the local PAN and also receives advertisements from other devices over the MAC layer of the local PAN. Monitor logic can monitor the MAC layer of the local PAN for advertisements corresponding to the selected service category. The monitor logic is also operatively coupled with the application interface for displaying advertised services corresponding to the selected service category.