Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.

6 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.

    3. 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.

    4. 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.

  2. 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.