Facebook Provides More User Control Over Ads

Facebook will soon give you more control over the types of ads you see in your feed, according to the Facebook newsroom blog.

The social media giant will also begin drawing from more resources to determine what types of ads to show you.

Facebook Ad Preferences

This month, the social media giant introduced ad preferences, a tool that will be present on each Facebook ad you see. This tool will not only allow you to adjust your ad preferences but will also let you learn why you were targeted with a certain type of ad in the first place. The ad preferences tool will roll out in the U.S. over the next few weeks and will be available globally in upcoming months, the blog explained.

The tool will allow you to click on the top right corner of the ad and select an option that says “Why Am I Seeing This Ad?” From there, you can discover why you’re seeing the ad and adjust your preferences. While this won’t change the number of ads you see or allow you to opt out of ads entirely, it will help your ads become more relevant to your interests.

Why Does Facebook Show You Certain Ads?

For years, Facebook has used data from your Facebook activity, such as the pages you like and posts you click on, to show you targeted ads related to that activity. Now, however, Facebook has announced that it would also start using data from your web behavior and apps you use as additional factors that determine the types of ads you see. Facebook says doing this helps users see ads that are more relevant to their needs and interests.

Facebook’s greatly expanded ability to provide targeted ads using web behavior could eventually rival Google, Adweek explained in a recent article. The social network’s competitive edge could be user interest, while Google’s competitive edge is user intent, Adweek explained.

The Takeaway

Brands that advertise on Facebook could benefit from users’ new ability to choose the types of ads they are interested in. This could help ensure that only the people who are most interested in their products and services see the ads, increasing the likelihood that users will respond to a brand’s advertising message. Facebook’s use of users’ web behavior and app usage data could also produce more highly targeted advertising for brands.

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(Image via http://newsroom.fb.com/)