Up until now, we had heard Facebook to keep track of our online shopping habits and use the acquired data to target ads. To our dismay, the latest news suggests that the leading social media network is also snooping on our shopping at brick and mortar locations.
According to a Business Insider report, Facebook is collaborating with top retailers who will send them data on what the customers are buying from their stores. The data will also include names, phone numbers, and email addresses of the buyers, which will ultimately be used to target them with more personalized ads.
As of this writing, Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods are the two retailers that have already partnered with Facebook. And we can expect more to follow suit.
Facebook’s prime source of revenue is ads. In their Q3 report for 2019, the company had revenue of $17.6 billion – with ads contributing $17.3 billion to the total revenue.
When inquired, Facebook said that this is a ‘standard’ practice for the industry, where they use users data to reach prospective consumers. The company also acknowledged that they use the phone numbers provided by the users during registration and security purpose for advertisement purposes.
After allegation from researchers, Facebook enabled users to modify their ad preferences. The social network giant also said that users would be allowed to see more detailed targeting based on their personal interests.
This simply means that users can change their ad preferences by going to the Privacy Settings tab on Facebook. They can also customize the type of ads they want Facebook to show.
Photo: REUTERS/Thomas White
Read next: Will Facebook’s Recently Announced Privacy Tool Actually Be Released?
According to a Business Insider report, Facebook is collaborating with top retailers who will send them data on what the customers are buying from their stores. The data will also include names, phone numbers, and email addresses of the buyers, which will ultimately be used to target them with more personalized ads.
As of this writing, Macy’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods are the two retailers that have already partnered with Facebook. And we can expect more to follow suit.
Facebook’s prime source of revenue is ads. In their Q3 report for 2019, the company had revenue of $17.6 billion – with ads contributing $17.3 billion to the total revenue.
When inquired, Facebook said that this is a ‘standard’ practice for the industry, where they use users data to reach prospective consumers. The company also acknowledged that they use the phone numbers provided by the users during registration and security purpose for advertisement purposes.
After allegation from researchers, Facebook enabled users to modify their ad preferences. The social network giant also said that users would be allowed to see more detailed targeting based on their personal interests.
This simply means that users can change their ad preferences by going to the Privacy Settings tab on Facebook. They can also customize the type of ads they want Facebook to show.
Photo: REUTERS/Thomas White
Read next: Will Facebook’s Recently Announced Privacy Tool Actually Be Released?
