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How Your In-Store Shopping Affects the Ads You See On Facebook

Posted by timothy on from the one-country-one-nation-one-singular-sensation dept.

itwbennett writes Facebook has made several acquisitions over the years to help advertisers target their ads and extend their reach. Custom Audiences is one such targeting tool, allowing retailers to match shoppers in their stores with their accounts on Facebook. It's often done through an email address, phone number or name. Facebook won't give hard numbers, but there seems to be a lot of matching going on. For decades, marketers have been trying to understand more about what's happening at the point of sale, 'so their systems are really robust at capturing a strikingly large amount of transactions,' says Brian Boland, Facebook's VP of advertising technology.

69 comments

  1. I love contextually useful ads. by mythosaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I employ a number of services on the internet where I am the product. My activities are sold to the highest bidder.

    In return, I get head's up notifications about traffic to places I'm likely about to drive to, and I get useful dinner suggestions when I'm out on the town after 7pm. I accept this trade-off. While I've "souled" out to Google primarily, if I used Facebook more than the necessary evil to coordinate large activities with my friends, I'd happily allow them to show me ads for steaks instead of tofu because the know the reward card attached to my phone number saved $0.99/pound on beef last week -- if they're going to show me ads at all.

    Bring it on Google and Facebook. Consolidate all of my data. Have at it. I sure as hell wasn't doing anything with it.

    ...just keep giving me predictive traffic, weather and restaurant options.

    Hell, I may even let you read my mail :)

    1. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      You're pathetic.

    2. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why is your personal info so precious to you? I have nothing to hide, if you do that's your problem.

    3. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Facebook here. We've noted from your tracking profile that you prefer beef over tofu, and are quite convenience-minded. As such, as a special service for our advertisers, we've provided them both with notification of these characteristics and calculated high probability that you will take an offer of steak web-offered particularly to you at a price $2.00/pound over market average.

      A pleasure doing business with you. We hope you continue to find our targeted advertising to your benefit.

    4. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      says the anon coward, you funny

    5. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do I keep coming back to slashdot? The idiocy just continually repeats itself.

    6. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are also guys that like to get banged in the ass. What's your point?

    7. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      And, even at $2/lb over market price, should that steak arrive for me in a way that I enjoy it (like cooked and delivered on a night they notice I got home late from work or saw me sit in a traffic jam), I might even use that service.

      I know I'm being sold to at every stop. I know there's a steak ad on my homepage instead of a tofu ad, and I know it's either a steak from a competitor who wants my business, or it's a steak from my preferred vendor who wants to lock me in. ...but since I know this, I can make informed decisions about what to do when presented with these ads.

      I don't have the level of hubris necessary to say that I'm completely immune to marketing and fashion and trends -- but for the most part I'm an old grumpy man who takes everything with a grain of salt. I can look at the hypothetical steak ad generally recognize when my preferred vendor wants to keep me "theirs" with a deal, and when a competitor is trying to woo me away. I'd rather at least have the extra options presented to me in my preferred categories, because without advertising revenue (or sales of my activities to other data brokers), the services would disappear.

      I like Google maps and Waze on top of it. I DNGAF if it knows where I drive to on Wednesday nights (spoiler alert: a poker game). I freely grant the Googles and Facebooks of the world this information in exchange for their services, and in exchange, I view the data they give me with the knowledge of a guy who knows what makes the world go 'round.

    8. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They could also alert his heath insurance provider to his preference for red meat over healthier options. His insurer could then generously increase his monthly premium, so as to better cover the colorectal cancer he is more likely to develop.

    9. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Voyager529 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is your personal info so precious to you? I have nothing to hide, if you do that's your problem.

      Two reasons:

      1.) it's not a matter of having "something to hide". "I have nothing to hide" succinctly illustrates a foundational change in how privacy is viewed. Privacy is a RIGHT that should be compromised only under specific circumstances, at my discretion. "I have nothing to hide" indicates that privacy is seen as a PRIVILEGE requiring a reason for its desire, i.e. "something to hide". The fact that you consider Facebook picking a Coke ad over a Pepsi ad a worthwhile tradeoff for your privacy is all well and good, and I personally am glad that the option is there. The fact that the system is becoming progressively less respectful of the concept of opting out for no given reason, on the other hand, is the problem.

      2.) The major issue isn't the opt-in, but the unilateral way it's done. Retail is a science, and I get that...but the fact that opting out is becoming progressively less possible is a problem. If Google wants information about me, feel free to call and ask. I usually participate in surveys for that very reason - they're respectful enough to ask, and allow me to choose which data I wish to provide. Facebook and Google do no such thing.

      There's a certain amount of understanding I can have with behavioral advertising. If I Google for "ski resorts Vermont", and they want to show me ads for ski resorts in Vermont, I'm 100% fine with that. I even try to click on ads when I know that they're incidentally what I'm looking for. However, if they're going to send me ads based on my e-mails and Facebook posts, which I cannot opt out of, then that is a different story.

    10. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Facebook here again. Rest assured, you not giving a... well, since we are a highly progressive company, we'll avoid the risk of being offensive to anyone until everyone is locked in by our system of financial leverage, so, let's just say "unconcerned"...

      Rest assured, it is very appropriate that you are unconcerned that everyone knows where you are Wednesday nights. We have already determined from your tracking profile that personal enemies and crazy... er, situationally-challenged, ex-girlfriends are minimal in your life history, and the claims that individuals could acquire this data from working for one of our advertisers, or hacking our database, or just, well, giving us enough cash, are entirely overstated.

      So, again, our deepest thanks and sending you a hearty "I call" to a fellow poker player who can appreciate the meaning of having a pittance of knowledge of what we have in our hand, versus what we know you have in yours.

    11. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two reasons:

      1.) it's not a matter of having "something to hide". "I have nothing to hide" succinctly illustrates a foundational change in how privacy is viewed. Privacy is a RIGHT that should be compromised only under specific circumstances, at my discretion.

      If it's private then don't put it out in public and companies like facebook won't have access to it.

      "I have nothing to hide" indicates that privacy is seen as a PRIVILEGE requiring a reason for its desire

      No it is the justification for making things that may would have been private by default public instead. Yes previously photos that I took privately remained on my camera, now they are synced to my public folder on my cloud provider. I don't have to do that, but I choose to because it is convenient and I have nothing to hide, that's the tradeoff.

      2.) The major issue isn't the opt-in, but the unilateral way it's done. Retail is a science, and I get that...but the fact that opting out is becoming progressively less possible is a problem.

      But it is possible, what people are taking issue with is that companies are now taking public data and cross-referencing it, that data wasn't private before and it isn't now.

      However, if they're going to send me ads based on my e-mails and Facebook posts, which I cannot opt out of, then that is a different story.

      Send you how? You mean by email? Anything that is an ad that doesn't end up the 'offers' folder or isn't caught by my spam filter i just delete.

    12. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by godel_56 · · Score: 1

      Bring it on Google and Facebook. Consolidate all of my data. Have at it. I sure as hell wasn't doing anything with it.

      ...just keep giving me predictive traffic, weather and restaurant options.

      Hell, I may even let you read my mail :)

      Heh. What makes you think you have the choice? They probably already are.

    13. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So in other words, you cannot be trusted by anyone to keep a secret. That's cool.

    14. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by exomondo · · Score: 1

      Privacy is a RIGHT that should be compromised only under specific circumstances, at my discretion.

      That's a very broad statement, you don't have a right to privacy in everything you do. I'm not sure why you would have an expectation of privacy with things you put on the public internet or when you go out shopping in public places. If you want privacy then use encryption, once you send data out on to the public net it is going through many hops that you don't control, you should be assuming that data is not private unless you are using an encrypted channel of communication between yourself and the target and - obviously - that you trust that target to keep that data private.

    15. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well when I found out my sister-in-law was pregnant before the first trimester that was a secret I kept to myself, I sure as hell didn't put that on the internet and expect it to stay private or communicate it using gmail under any illusion that google wasn't accessing that data to then show me ads for baby stuff. If you want to keep things private then don't make them public and only share them with parties that you trust, i.e. not google or facebook for example.

      Seriously it isn't that hard to understand.

    16. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      +----------+
      |..Please..|
      |..Do Not..|
      |.Feed The.|
      |..Trolls..|
      +----------+
          | |
          | |
          | |

    17. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by vux984 · · Score: 2

      Your thinking small potatoes.

      I'd happily allow them to show me ads for steaks instead of tofu because the know the reward card attached to my phone number saved $0.99/pound on beef last week -- if they're going to show me ads at all.

      They'll show you ads for steak alright. But they'll be priced higher than they are for me, because they think your more likely to buy them; and they know you can afford them.

      This is already starting to happen. Web sites are showing consumers different prices based on everything from what browser they use to where their ip geolocates to; if they can link that to your browsing profile / facebook account / ...

      That's not trading privacy for peronsalized ads. That's letting a car salesman follow you around, root around in your pockets, your garbage, and your bank accounts and then when you drive up on the lot to inquire about a new car.

      The tenuous balance of power between buyer and seller will be fundamentally altered. They'll know exactly what buttons to push; exactly what you can afford; and all your preferences and blind spots... so you walk away paying the most for the least.

      The idea that they are just going to show you ads for things you want instead of things you don't and make your life better is naive. They are going to make you want things you wouldn't otherwise have wanted or even known about. And you will pay for them exactly the most you can afford, thinking you are getting a deal, and thanking them for taking your money. You will never be any happier, because they'll always know exactly what to show you to make you want more.

      I cancelled cable early this year. (and we've got adblockers; and we watch ad free sources like netflix and torrents; and listen to music we've downloaded etc... ) And this last week my wife and I were realizing just how out of tune the whole family was of the advertising cycle.

      Our kids "wishlists" for Christmas were both smaller and better thought out than usual. Stuff they had enjoyed at friends houses, stuff they wanted that pertained to their own interests.

      I'd go as far as to say we're "happier and more content" due to the relatively limited exposure to ads.

      I definitely prefer the advertisers I do still see not tailor the ads to me. I don't want to be constantly bombarded by ads each chosen specifically to push MY buttons. Its better that only a few hit there mark, and the majority are for products I've got no interest in nor use for. Those don't tempt me.

    18. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you do have some things to hide. I guess it's normal to change the subject after you have been caught in a falsehood.

    19. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by LessThanObvious · · Score: 2

      There is nothing wrong with that attitude and it isn't all that uncommon, but at the same time it's reasonable for the rest of us not to want that. I had to pay $2 extra for a magazine at the grocery store just so it wouldn't end up in my consumer profile. I don't have a solution for getting Google and Facebook paid without whoring out my personal information, but I really think I should be able to walk into the grocery store and get my discounts for being a loyal shopper without them taking every scrap of information they can and linking it into some damn profile I wish didn't exist. I can choose not to use Google and Facebook, but I really can't reasonably avoid brick and mortar stores. This future cashless society is also going to be a privacy-less society if we continue on our current path. I don't consider it to be in my best interest to have every detail of my existence known by a bunch of corporate marketing weasels. Granted, they don't actually care what I do on a the weekend, they just want to sell me more of whatever that is, but once information is recorded and organized and available online we lose all control of who sees it and for what reason.

    20. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      Ads have always been contextual. There's more ads for luxury items in the suburbs by me than there are for pawn shops, and there's ads for strip-bars in taxi cabs for drunks and traveling businessmen.

      While I can't pretend to be immune to desire - I am mostly human - I take all the advertising I see with a heavy grain of salt.

    21. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by vux984 · · Score: 1

      Ads have always been contextual.

      But they've always been limited to 'demographics'. And while im similar to my neighbors in many ways, we are not all clones.

      We're gradually approaching a point where they are marketing to you: personally, because they know you: personally.

      That is not a good thing, at least not for you.

    22. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by dreamchaser · · Score: 1

      Nobody forces you to use gmail or Facebook though. To you they are a free 'service' but they really aren't a service to you. That's just the carrot. You are the product they sell. Don't want them to have any information about you? Don't use them. I don't use Facebook for that very reason, and I use my gmail for innocuous things and as my spam catcher account. My choices.

      Want your email to be as private as possible? Stand up your own server or use a paid service that you think you can trust. Don't want Facebook using any data it collects on you? Great, me either! So don't use it.

    23. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Falos · · Score: 1

      > I get useful dinner suggestions
      Jesus OnaRaptor Christ, it sounds like the fucking infections that claim to "enhance your shopping experience". When I was a kid, I wasn't mowing lawns, I was getting paid to wipe away filth like that. Some of us can get traffic and communicate without bending over and "being informed of consumer opportunities."

      On the bright side, this PSA will lessen the cancer out there, whether OP is a shill, retard, or clever strawman. I suppose I owe him a fedora tip in the latter.

    24. Re: I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And herein lies the issue. To say you have done nothing wrong, to say you have nothing to hide...as if you decide these things. Whether it's getting dinged at the insurance company for eating buffalo wings, or losing your job as a teacher because you went to a friend's bachelor party....things become known too easily, and it may cost you when you are least expecting it.

    25. Re: I love contextually useful ads. by Teranolist · · Score: 0

      Its almost like the simpsons, same stupid shit in every episode, but I'm still watching!

    26. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by whodunit · · Score: 1

      It's the existence of these databases that worries me; not who is making them. If the database exists, the government can and will access them, either through secret warrants or through outright illegal cracking, as the NSA did. I don't much worry about Facebook violating my rights - but what the government might do with the massive facial recognition database Facebook made of their users is a different story.

    27. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Voyager529 · · Score: 1

      Two reasons:

      1.) it's not a matter of having "something to hide". "I have nothing to hide" succinctly illustrates a foundational change in how privacy is viewed. Privacy is a RIGHT that should be compromised only under specific circumstances, at my discretion.

      If it's private then don't put it out in public and companies like facebook won't have access to it.

      I'm not talking about being upset with a situation like me saying "I just got a new car!" and then Facebook serving me ads for accessories or insurance. That's a tradeoff I'm okay with, for the very reason you specify. The think that grinds my gears is entirely different, and an example of it just happened today. I have a few PC repair clients. I call, text, and e-mail them. I do not contact them via Facebook. I do not have the Facebook app installed on my phone, we have no mutual friends, they've never e-mailed me at my e-mail address associated with my Facebook account, and I run Ghostery on my browser. To the extent that I can, I've opted out of whatever tracking Facebook lets me opt out of. So, how did Facebook know that I knew these clients? That's information I've not only not given them, but have gone out of my way to prevent Facebook getting. "Because I use the service at all" is a pretty poor reason why Facebook should have that information.

      "I have nothing to hide" indicates that privacy is seen as a PRIVILEGE requiring a reason for its desire

      No it is the justification for making things that may would have been private by default public instead. Yes previously photos that I took privately remained on my camera, now they are synced to my public folder on my cloud provider. I don't have to do that, but I choose to because it is convenient and I have nothing to hide, that's the tradeoff.

      Agreed. Let me give you another example. Back in June, I went with a friend on a road trip to Pittsburgh. In anticipation of this trip, I updated Google Maps on my phone. I don't use it often, and I have auto-updates on my phone disabled, so it was a bit dated. When we got back home, I learned that Google has a "map history" 'feature' that's a part of the Maps app, that show you the routes you took. I was never notified of this change, and again, wherever possible, I opted out of Google's data collection. Maps is "convenient", and Google showing me ads for rest stops and gas stations while I'm driving is an acceptable tradeoff. Retaining that data, when no prompt was given to me? I had nothing to hide during that trip, but it's disrespectful to take data in that manner without giving the user the option to have it not collected. Depending on the tightness of your tin foil hat, there's no guarantee that they aren't taking that data anyway and just aren't showing it to you. "Don't use Maps then" is the likely answer, and I no longer do - I use CoPilot. The fact that the opt-out wasn't made known to me until after the data had been collected? That's not terribly justifiable.

      2.) The major issue isn't the opt-in, but the unilateral way it's done. Retail is a science, and I get that...but the fact that opting out is becoming progressively less possible is a problem.

      But it is possible, what people are taking issue with is that companies are now taking public data and cross-referencing it, that data wasn't private before and it isn't now.

      Who my clients are is privileged information. I sync them with an Exchange server whose owners I know, and explicitly not to Google, Facebook, or anyone else. What I do and don't buy *should* be privileged information (which is why I don't use rewards cards). The cross-referencing is most definitely concerning, especially since the definition of "public" seems to essentially be "any time one human interacts with another", when there should certainly be a spectrum between "private" and "public".

    28. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Voyager529 · · Score: 1

      I answered most of your questions in this post, but the tl;dr version is that I don't mind ads based on what I post. I mind ads based on what I *don't* post, i.e. data that's extracted from my behavior. What I post is public. What I don't post is private. Not that hard.

    29. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by exomondo · · Score: 1

      I don't mind ads based on what I post. I mind ads based on what I *don't* post, i.e. data that's extracted from my behavior. What I post is public. What I don't post is private. Not that hard.

      Your behavior is public though. If you're not putting it out there then there is no data for them to extract.

    30. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you do have some things to hide. I guess it's normal to change the subject after you have been caught in a falsehood.

      I obviously didnt write this post as it is contradictory to what I did write in this one where I pointed out that if you want to keep things private then don't share them with untrusted parties. Why can people not understand that?

      But no, we have all these mental defectives that give all their private information to companies like google and facebook that provide free services and then go off complaining that they had an expectation of privacy. Where did you even get that idea from?

    31. Re:I love contextually useful ads. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a few PC repair clients. I call, text, and e-mail them. I do not contact them via Facebook. I do not have the Facebook app installed on my phone, we have no mutual friends, they've never e-mailed me at my e-mail address associated with my Facebook account, and I run Ghostery on my browser. To the extent that I can, I've opted out of whatever tracking Facebook lets me opt out of. So, how did Facebook know that I knew these clients? That's information I've not only not given them, but have gone out of my way to prevent Facebook getting. "Because I use the service at all" is a pretty poor reason why Facebook should have that information.

      If you did all that you said you did then your clients gave them that information. They have obviously been given that information directly or gleaned it from some publicly accessible source.

      Retaining that data, when no prompt was given to me? I had nothing to hide during that trip, but it's disrespectful to take data in that manner without giving the user the option to have it not collected. Depending on the tightness of your tin foil hat, there's no guarantee that they aren't taking that data anyway and just aren't showing it to you. "Don't use Maps then" is the likely answer, and I no longer do - I use CoPilot. The fact that the opt-out wasn't made known to me until after the data had been collected? That's not terribly justifiable.

      Fair enough, however most people that are concerned with privacy will read the privacy policy including when the privacy policy is updated to make sure that it still meets their requirements otherwise they will do as you did and switch to something else.

      Who my clients are is privileged information.

      Then you need to make your clients aware of that and make sure they do not communicate that information across any service that will potentially use it. The problem is the expectation of privacy in situations where you explicitly do not get privacy, just read the policies on the services you use.

      The cross-referencing is most definitely concerning, especially since the definition of "public" seems to essentially be "any time one human interacts with another", when there should certainly be a spectrum between "private" and "public".

      If you want privacy then use a private channel of communication, your problem is you are using a non-private channel that you are just assuming is private.

      "Don't data mine." It's not that hard.

      And what do you define "data mining" as? Using public data? If somebody says they know you then is a company like facebook not allowed to consider the prospect that you may know them and present you with that suggestion? You cannot just put information out in public and then try and restrict who uses it.

      You need to be responsible and stop putting information out in the public domain or entrusting it to parties that cannot be trusted with it.

  2. Too Afriad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's no posts on this article but 67 on the one above about Congress. I guess people are too scared of being tracked by FB.

    Anyway, this is why the name of my Wegmans card is Snake Plissken and I've never given FB my credit card info nor my phone number. But I'm sure a friend has my phone number in their phone and FB probably linked it to me. I was early enough on FB when it actually was a face book for college students so I stupidly gave it my real name.

    1. Re:Too Afriad? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, somehow this article showed up before the Congress one and not afterwards... I really dislike the auto-refresh feature. It even jumps me to the top of the page if it triggers while I was scrolling in a different area.

  3. Facebook ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the only ads I ever see on Facebook are on the screen after I log out. The only one that appears there is for Progressive Insurance, and I've been a Progressive customer since 2001 or so. Not a very effective advertising platform, if you ask me.

    1. Re:Facebook ads by tompaulco · · Score: 1

      I haven't seen any ads on Facebook. Either they are so unobstrusive that I just don't see them (and are therefore useless) or I am just very good at ignoring them (and they are therefore useless).
      I wonder what will happen when people find out that advertising is just a big scam and for every dollar you invest, you get far less than a dollar back. Goodbye Google, Facebook, MySpace, Slashdot, etc.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
  4. Our economy is a Ponzi scheme by hessian · · Score: 0

    We make stuff to sell it to ourselves, then sell advertising based on that, pretending somehow this is all anything but Monopoly money based on our oil and military power.

    --
    Futurist Traditionalism
    1. Re:Our economy is a Ponzi scheme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Er, making stuff to sell to ourselves is what every economy SHOULD be. What else is an economy?

  5. It's a good thing I don't use Facebook then by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No Facebook advertisers tracking me.

  6. Ads by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

    Ads that follow me and my every mood are a tad bit in the "uncanny valley" area for me. It bothers me that when I open up Facebook, there is always an ad for Hint water. Not because I don't like Hint (I do like it), but rather because I am already being bombarded with adverts for it elsewhere (email). The problem, I don't want more ads for things I'm already buying, and it only makes me want to buy it less.

    I am less bothered by Coke ads that are everywhere targeting everyone. Somehow seeing ads on Facebook, for the thing I just googled, really annoys the crap out of me. That doesn't help them sell it to me.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    1. Re:Ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ads that follow me and my every mood are a tad bit in the "uncanny valley" area for me. It bothers me that when I open up Facebook, there is always an ad for Hint water. Not because I don't like Hint (I do like it), but rather because I am already being bombarded with adverts for it elsewhere (email). The problem, I don't want more ads for things I'm already buying, and it only makes me want to buy it less.

      I am less bothered by Coke ads that are everywhere targeting everyone. Somehow seeing ads on Facebook, for the thing I just googled, really annoys the crap out of me. That doesn't help them sell it to me.

      Tell us what you would rather have advertised to you.

    2. Re:Ads by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      If I'm already a customer, they don't need to pound me with more advertisements. It only pisses me off.

      A good advertising campaign is one that doesn't feel like advertising. The iconic Macintosh Super Bowl ad is a really good example of an ad. It simple was "there is something coming, you're gonna like it".

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  7. I'm all for data collection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As long as it's consensual. If I want ads that are better suited to my desires, I need to give up some information, and I'm fine with that. The problem is when companies do it without your approval.

  8. Think that discount card is saving you money? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Think again!

  9. 2222222 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyway, yeah, I have seen this happen, mainly clothes shopping stuff.

    Do I hate it? No.
    Do I care that they are spying on me? No.
    Only paranoid retards think that.
    Is it useful? Yes.
    Will it help me find other things I like? Yes.

    You are being spied on by just LIVING in society, don't like it, go piss off in to a forest and stop complaining.
    There are entire cabinets filled with data on you, and that is only from 30 odd years of being alive.
    And I don't even like Facebook in general.
    Protip, that friend recommendation about some new hot place is also considered as advertising.
    You never found the place yourself, it was promoted by a friend. Even if it was their voice going in to your ears, it still wasn't an active choice by you, it was planted by an outside entity, and if you went, and you are against the above, you are a hypocrite.
    Friends know what you like too. That puts them on equal grounds as these. (but admittedly nowhere near as much as what Facebook or whoever else collects)

    The only thing I am against is abusive levels of advertising, and abusive ads in general, like plugin ads, automatic audio ads, and video ads are a massive waste of bandwidth unless it is specifically ON a video site!
    Oh, also, I don't even need to say this, but pop-anything ads are always evil.
    But any other advertiser is absolutely fine in my books.
    I've found good food, games, services, programs and websites through advertising, affiliation and others.

    Stay pointlessly sheltered. Any effort you put in is fruitless since it just makes you an even bigger target for others to record what you are doing. (hint, governments and service operators)
    I bet you even think JavaScript is evil. Pfft. Sitting there in your dark room so the spies outside can't see you. That paranoia. Get to a doctor, mental problems can severely limit your life.
    It is tantamount to a child throwing a tantrum at their parents or guardians wanting to know what they are doing.

  10. Ah cash by Dereck1701 · · Score: 1

    Another reason why I don't give my phone number, name, avoid using "rewards" cards, and try to use cash instead of a card. Note though that you have to watch out for family members as well, I suppose it could be a coincidence but I had to run my sister to a convenience store one weekend a couple months ago so she could pick up something that came in a small paper bag, and for the next two days I was getting mostly tampon advertisements in my browser.

    1. Re:Ah cash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Doesn't matter, they can still use facial recognition on you.

      And even if you don't have a facebook profile, they have a profile for you.

  11. W T F by wulfmans · · Score: 1

    You still have a facebook account ?

    1. Re:W T F by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You still have a facebook account ?

      Why? What is the profit of having facebook account?
      20 years in IT and I do not have even "personal web page".
      And ... I have "not so smart phone" it is working longer after charging.
      Friends? maybe half dozen. I got their addresses and phone numbers.

  12. bring it on by slashmydots · · Score: 2

    1. use a Facebook-only e-mail address - CHECK
    2. don't have a smartphone (or don't log in to FB on yours ever) - CHECK
    3. use a fake name on Facebook - CHECK
    4. never give Facebook any of my music, shopping, or any other favorites or preferences on my profile - CHECK

    Try again, bitches, you've got nothing on me. And people think I'm paranoid.

    1. Re:bring it on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At that point why even use facebook?

      unless you are a creep ...oh... right.

    2. Re:bring it on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I don't get the "fake name" thing. Facebook is for contact with friends. If you use a fake name, how do your friends find you?

    3. Re:bring it on by danknight48 · · Score: 1

      Try again, bitches, you've got nothing on me. And people think I'm paranoid.

      You might want to do some research on cookies. http://lifehacker.com/5461114/...

      - You check your hotmail emails. AdvertCompany1 creates a Cookie
      - You do some online shopping on amazon who have a contract with AdvertCompany2 to update that cookie.
      - You then goto your "fake" facebook account
      - Because Facebook are using AdvertCompany1 and AdvertCompany2, they can obtain all the information from those cookies.

      Game over.

    4. Re:bring it on by slashmydots · · Score: 1

      To see what my friends are doing and post stupid memes of course!

  13. NOPE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, not me brother, I get bombarded from all directions with the same ads for the same shit that I didn't want in the first place

    I know that a keystone of advertising is repetition, repetition, repetition, but if I see the same annoying ad 20-30 times a week I start to actually resent the product, the people behind it, their dogs, etc

    You want me to buy into your shit learn how to control your targeted advertising.

    repetition

  14. Two words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cash and lie.

    Pay in cash.
    Lie when asked for personal information (email, postcode etc).

    Or is that just me?

  15. Doesn't affect the ads _I_ see on Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not on Facebook. Take THAT!!

  16. Bullshit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "help advertisers target their ads and extend their reach." Bullshit.

    What I have observed are the opposite. I always gets ads from sites that I have already visit on my own and already made a decision about. That's not extending "their" reach but limiting it. Gone are the days where I actually see some new interesting ad and bought something as a result. There are never anything new anymore.

    1. Re:Bullshit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I bought an SSD online. Now everywhere I go I have ads for SSDs. Just in case I wanted another one.

  17. Harbor Freight. by AndyKron · · Score: 0

    You mean like the motherfuckers at Harbor Freight who keep asking me for my phone number? Fuck them!

  18. Two reasons why I don't see ads on Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. AdBlock
    2. I don't use Facebook

    Next story please!

  19. Keep up the good work Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You continue to show me ads for things I've either, a) already bought, and not going to buy another, or b) decided I'm not going to buy, probably ever.

    Well, if I ever do decide to buy that new Ford Fusion Titanium Hybrid that I was merely curious about, it won't be because you've spammed me with ads for it for months on end. And it won't be a click-through purchase either, so you won't get credit for the sale. It is curiously ironic I think that you don't show me ads for the Tesla, which I looked at at the same time I was looking at the Fusion.

    1. Re:Keep up the good work Facebook by vux984 · · Score: 1

      It is curiously ironic I think that you don't show me ads for the Tesla, which I looked at at the same time I was looking at the Fusion.

      Evidently Ford paid them more to advertise to you.

  20. Insert advert for Facebook .. by lippydude · · Score: 1

    shhhs !!!!!! Filter error: Your comment looks too much like ascii art.

  21. which email address? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which email address? I have over 200 of them now. The facebook@mydomain.com address isn't used elsewhere, so good luck correlating that. The amazon address, the paypa address, etc. Let em use my name, there are thousands of us to merge in the dataset. :)

  22. Ads? by edibobb · · Score: 1

    Facebook has ads?
    [ Link disabled by Adblock Edge ]

  23. ah those lame targetted adverts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ordered a Washing online, next day on Facebook, advert from the same company trying to sell me a Washing Machine....

    Hey you guys I just bought one, I don't need another unless you sold me a lemon, and then I wouldn't be buying one from you again anyway...

    Twats

  24. Eh, whatever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Guess nothing for me to think much about, don't have a Facebook account or Twitter or Instagram or Snapchat ad infinitum. I do have a Google+ account that I never use, but that's because I've had a Gmail account forever (may be getting rid of that and going with rolling my own though). It seems that I'm the only one in the world who doesn't and I've been working in IT for 26 years... Just don't see the point other than to enter the odd giveaway that I miss out on now and then. If I want to communicate with someone, I call them. Maybe I'm old... I need a nap and by the way, GET OFF MY LAWN!