We already know that Facebook tracks a gajillion different data points about its users. As advertisers, these data points are great because it allows us to get really granular with ad-targeting, which reduces CPC, CPM, yadda yadda yadda…
But have you ever wanted to know what Facebook actually knows about YOU? In that case, we’ve got a good news/bad news situation here.
Good news: You can easily find out what Facebook knows about you.
Bad news: You might start wearing a tin foil hat after learning what they know.
Brian and Hailley from Science of Social Media are going to walk you through how to uncover that data about yourself, how some businesses are using it, and how you can take back control.
Let’s put on our tin foil hats and dive in…
- (1:29) The more time you spend on Facebook, the more data they know about you, the more money they can make off of you.
- (2:24) Facebook tracks and shares your data across all Facebook-owned apps (Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.)
- (4:12) You can check what Facebook knows about you by going to Facebook.com, click the inverse triangle in the upper right, click “Settings”, and then click “Ads” on the left side.
- (8:03) Facebook buys your credit reports to get more data on your finances.
- (8:44) Facebook also buys data from loyalty programs. So if you have a loyalty card for any retailer, that retailer is likely selling trends about your buying habits to Facebook.
- (10:43) You can remove yourself from categories that Facebook knows about you.
- (12:00) If you want to take back some control, use Ghostery to block ad trackers.
Bonus tip: You can also see examples of ads that have been targeted at you by clicking on a specific interest within the “Your Interests” tab.
