Facebook users express concern about ads targeting individuals. As a result, many are questioning the security of Facebook – you may be one of them. In The Facebook Blog, Facebook attempts to clarify a misconception about their advertisements. Some users suspect that data is collected by advertisers to create these targeted advertisements.  According to Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer, this is not the case. Advertisers are not given access to this type of personal information. Okay, but how is it possible that this ad presents hiking gear and I like hiking? It seems that the ad was created just for me. Sheryl Sandberg explains that advertisers present an ad to the Facebook staff. Then, Facebook will service these to people that relate to that particular type of ad. No information is given to the advertisers even if your profile is set to public. She explains the team roles out advertisements to certain people based on what they “like.” Sheryl explains the following from her article, The Role of Advertising on Facebook:

The only information we provide to advertisers is aggregate and anonymous data, so they can know how many people viewed their ad and general categories of information about them. Ultimately, this helps advertisers better understand how well their ads work so they can show better ads.

Advertisers can also request that we display ads based on the things you have said you liked in your profile. We think this means you will get ads that are more personalized to your real interests and this makes your experience on Facebook even better. For example, if you are a small business selling tents you might want to target adults ages 18-49 who have liked camping or hiking. Our advertising system only shows the number of people who fit those criteria. – Read the entire article on The Facebook Blog

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 9:20 am and is filed under the following categories: Social Media.
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