Facebook will start using more private data of its members for displaying more relevant advertisements. The data is collected through Facebook's mobile applications and through integrated 'Like' buttons on other websites. At the same time the company released a tool to provide users more insights in the data the social network stores about its users.
According to the New York Times the change will come in effect next week. Till now Facebook only showed advertisements based on the Facebook activity of an user including profile data and likes of companies and pages. Starting next week the social network will also start using other collected private information to determine which advertisements are relevant to the user. According to the NYT this includes data collected through the Facebook smartphone applications and likely also 'Like' buttons integrated as found on many websites. The company has confirmed to the NYT it will start using more data.
It's unknown which data Facebook will start using exactly. The company could possibly use the location of the user determined by the Facebook smartphone and display advertisements relevant to the current location or visited locations. The site could also try to profile the interests of an user based on the websites the user visits. Those who don't want to be tracked can opt-out with a cookie.
At the same Facebook released a tool to give its users more insights in the data the company collects about them. Users can edit the collected data and remove parts of it. Advertisements on Facebook will now also provide details on why they might be interesting to the user.
