Facebook, like many other sites, collects data about its users. For many, this question is exciting because it is a social network – Facebook knows much more about each user than an ordinary online store or news portal. Read on to find out what data Facebook collects and how it uses it.
What data does Facebook collect?
Facebook knows the following data:
- External Sites. Facebook collects and analyzes information about which third-party sites we visit and what actions we take on them. This includes the theme of the site, time spent on it, and activity. For example, the more often you visit a particular web page, the more likely Facebook will assign it to your interests.
- Applications. We are talking about gaming applications on Facebook. If you play any games, then it tracks your position (geo-point) and, by combining several parameters, can award one or another interest.
- Messengers. By analyzing your conversations in messaging apps (WhatsApp, Messenger, Viber, and others), Facebook also compiles interest maps.
- PC. If you access Facebook from a personal computer, the system counts your cursor’s time on a post. And, according to the statistics obtained, it forms your interests. That is, not only likes or posts affect the ads that appear.
How Facebook uses the information
Typically, a social network uses information about you in the following ways:
- To personalize and improve their products.
- To provide measurement, analytics, and other business services.
- To promote security, integrity, and protection.
- To send marketing offers and answer user questions.
- For research and innovation.
Of course, data is mainly collected for the selection of relevant advertising.
What information is shared with others
Many are interested in what data Facebook transfers to third parties. Among them:
- Content about you shared by other people.
- Applications, websites, and third-party integrations in or using Facebook products.
- Aggregated statistics help people and businesses analyze how people interact with their posts, listings, pages, videos, and other content on and off Facebook products.
- People Type Reports: General demographics and interest information (for example, the ad was viewed by a 25-34-year-old woman in Madrid who is into software development) to better understand your audience.
Who lists users to show ads?
Advertisers can customize their ads to be shown to specific audiences. In some cases, you see ads because the advertiser has included you in an audience based on your information or your off-Facebook activities.
Is it possible to influence how the data will be used?
One of the ways to target ads is settings by place of study and work. You can prevent the use of this data to serve ads. Here’s how it’s done:
Settings and privacy – Settings – Advertising – Advertising settings – Categories used to include you in the target audience.
How to prevent companies from using data for advertising?
It is possible to hide ads from specific advertisers. This means that ads from the selected advertiser will no longer be shown to you.
Why sharing data with Facebook is beneficial?
If you monitor what data you give to the social network, you can receive more relevant promotional offers.
You can eliminate ads for products you don’t need from your Instagram feed by turning off interests that don’t match your real interests. The more relevant data, the better the offers from the business.