Making Use of Social Media and How Does Facebook Know What I Like?

            

               

Social media (SM) marketing is such a powerful tool of advertising for firms and to spread knowledge or impart knowledge to consumers. Currently, there are 3.48 billion social media users in 2019, with the worldwide users growing by 288 million (9 percent) since this time last year.
(Source: We Are Social) People enjoy using social media and like to browse through various platforms to find out about their favourite things e.g. brands, food, fashion items etc which makes advertising through this method so effective. It is by choice that people are browsing and using social media platforms, they get to choose what they want to see, especially what they're interested in. It is a win-win situation, consumers get to choose to search on the things they want to find out more about or to keep themselves updated with the latest news based on interests while businesses can also filter out their target audiences to reach out to them most effectively based on their habits and by doing in depth research on how to best reach them through social media - i.e. which platform their target market uses most often.



However, there are different levels of involvements for people using social media. Some are more active, some prefer to only use it when they're really bored, this affects the platform where businesses can effectively reach out to their target audience and how they should go about it. For example:

• What sort of ads will work the best? Since these people do not scroll through Facebook or Instagram much, but only use communication apps like WhatsApp, will it be best to force them to see my ads through pop-ups or in-app banners? 
• Or through demographics, the company understands that most of their customers of ages 40 to 50 only uses Facebook, then should Facebook be their only platform to market at? Or are there other possible platforms to reach out to their audiences?

While social media is a method to kill boredom, communicate and to keep ourselves updated with the lives of others, it is also a platform where most people seek validation. We like to show off and share on social media about the things that we just bought, the fun we are having, the great food we are eating and just, the enjoyable and beautiful things going on in our lives. Companies are also able to understand their consumers better through their social media posts and interactions while strategising on how to attract their attention.

Here's where this question comes to mind - How does Facebook know what I like? How is Facebook showing an ad immediately after I searched about this shoe/hair salon/lipstick?! 



The mystery unfolds...

Facebook uses your interests, behaviours, demographics and other data either online or offline where advertisers can select parameters to match their targeted audiences with specific details, for example: 

"Female in her 30s, living in Singapore, likes shopping, works in an office, married".

Facebook is often linked to your internet browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox etc) which allows them to extract data from your search history and gets notified when you click on a website that links to Facebook Connect.

From these factors, Facebook is able to find the best matches for these descriptions as per the advertisers' requests and based on your likes, shares and activities, that is exactly why Facebook is able to know what you like, what you just purchased and what you just searched about on your device.

Of course, you can opt out of this if you feel invaded or just do not like feeling "stalked".

1.  By using ad blockers like DoNotTrackMe or Adblock Plus allows you to disconnect any plugins and scripts from running by Facebook, once activated, Facebook will not be able to extract any data from you that links to your Facebook account.

2. Facebook disconnect for Chrome and Firefox: This allows you to disconnect your browsing history to stop the flow of your data for links with Facebook Connect.

3. Steps to disable Facebook ads which uses your likes, shares and activities on Facebook that promotes to your friends.

• Click the lock icon when you're logged into Facebook and select "see more settings".
• Click the "Ads" tab on the sidebar.
• Click "Edit" under "Third Party Sites" and change the setting to "No one."
• Click "Edit" under "Ads & Friends" and select "No One." This disables Social Ads.

Let me know in the comments below, how do you feel about social media companies using your data to show ads related to you? 

References:
Castillo, M. (2017, November 30). Here's why that Facebook ad is following you and your family. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/30/why-facebook-ads-follow-you.html

Malone, M. (2019, February 04). How Does Facebook Know What Ads to Show You? (Example). Retrieved from https://www.vicimediainc.com/how-does-facebook-know-what-ads-to-show-you/

Klosowski, T. (2013, November 4). How Facebook Uses Your Data to Target Ads, Even Offline. Retrieved from https://lifehacker.com/how-facebook-uses-your-data-to-target-ads-even-offline-5994380