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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.

3 of 69 comments (clear)

  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: 3, Insightful

      says the anon coward, you funny

    2. 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.