Sunday, December 16, 2012

Facebook, Likes, Ads...

Out of curiosity, I downloaded my Facebook archive today. Some of it was mildly interesting -- such as the list of friends I’ve deleted.

What I found most amusing, however, was this:

Tracking my ‘Ads Topics’ on Facebook

Facebook doesn’t track your Likes. They track your Ads Topics.

It’s always been obvious that Likes are a mechanism for showing you ads. But it’s still funny to see it explicitly labelled this way, without any pretense. [To clarify -- the list is every Page you’ve Liked, not every liked item]

(It doesn’t seem to be particularly effective, unfortunately -- to date according to my archive I’ve only clicked on one ad so far...)

I also found the reminder that Facebook can track facial recognition data (for users outside of the E.U.) a little disquieting.

Um, ‘Like’ this post?

Also relevant

Instagram (Facebook) says it now has the right to sell your photos
Stop Facebook from Tracking You, with Disconnect
How to Opt-Out of LinkedIn Social Ads