Facebook collects data on us based on how we use the app, the pages we interact with, the things we post, and so on. However did you know that Facebook actually generates a list of interests that it thinks we likes so that it can display ads that it deems to be relevant to you? According to a recent study by Pew Internet, apparently not many people do.In their study, they found that 74% of participants did not know that Facebook kept a list of interests and traits about them, and that half of these users were uncomfortable that the company had created such a list in the first place. Now to Facebook’s credit, these aren’t some kind of secretive list that they have locked away in some vault only accessible by Facebook.
These are actually lists that you can see for yourself via Facebook’s ad preferences page, but the fact that many people did not know about this makes it almost as good as hidden. Facebook has since responded to the study in a statement to The Verge where they admit that better education needs to be done on how internet-based advertising works.
“We want people to understand how our ad settings and controls work. That means better ads for people. While we and the rest of the online ad industry need to do more to educate people on how interest-based advertising works and how we protect people’s information, we welcome conversations about transparency and control.”