98 things that Facebook knows about you!
Information is (Facebook's) money!
Despite all of those hysterical posts about Facebook starting to charge it's users (seriously - stop sharing these, they're fake!), they will always make their billions through advertising. It's really simple - advertisers like to advertise to the people that are most likely to buy the product or service that they're selling. They do this by profiling their audience to make sure their adverts show up on the right pages, at the right times, and in the right locations. If Facebook (or any other advertiser) can offer that high level of targeting, then they can charge companies more to advertise - information is money!
What information does Facebook collect?
Facebook uses up to 98 different data points to profile you. Most of them won't surprise you, some might, some will! More surprising is where they get their information from - anyone use a supermarket loyalty card? If so, then Facebook probably knows when you shop and what you buy! Here's what we know they know:
- Location
- Age
- Generation
- Gender
- Language
- Education level
- Field of study
- School
- Ethnic affinity
- Income and net worth
- Home ownership and type
- Home value
- Property size
- Square footage of home
- Year home was built
- Household composition
- Users who have an anniversary within 30 days
- Users who are away from family or hometown
- Users who are friends with someone who has an anniversary, is newly married or engaged, recently moved, or has an upcoming birthday
- Users in long-distance relationships
- Users in new relationships
- Users who have new jobs
- Users who are newly engaged
- Users who are newly married
- Users who have recently moved
- Users who have birthdays soon
- Parents
- Expectant parents
- Mothers, divided by “type” (soccer, trendy, etc.)
- Users who are likely to engage in politics
- Conservatives and liberals
- Relationship status
- Employer
- Industry
- Job title
- Office type
- Interests
- Users who own motorcycles
- Users who plan to buy a car (and what kind/brand of car, and how soon)
- Users who bought auto parts or accessories recently
- Users who are likely to need auto parts or services
- Style and brand of car you drive
- Year car was bought
- Age of car
- How much money user is likely to spend on next car
- Where user is likely to buy next car
- How many employees your company has
- Users who own small businesses
- Users who work in management or are executives
- Users who have donated to charity (divided by type)
- Operating system
- Users who play canvas games
- Users who own a gaming console
- Users who have created a Facebook event
- Users who have used Facebook Payments
- Users who have spent more than average on Facebook Payments
- Users who administer a Facebook page
- Users who have recently uploaded photos to Facebook
- Internet browser
- Email service
- Early/late adopters of technology
- Expats (divided by what country they are from originally)
- Users who belong to a credit union, national bank or regional bank
- Users who investor (divided by investment type)
- Number of credit lines
- Users who are active credit card users
- Credit card type
- Users who have a debit card
- Users who carry a balance on their credit card
- Users who listen to the radio
- Preference in TV shows
- Users who use a mobile device (divided by what brand they use)
- Internet connection type
- Users who recently acquired a smartphone or tablet
- Users who access the Internet through a smartphone or tablet
- Users who use coupons
- Types of clothing user’s household buys
- Time of year user’s household shops most
- Users who are “heavy” buyers of beer, wine or spirits
- Users who buy groceries (and what kinds)
- Users who buy beauty products
- Users who buy allergy medications, cough/cold medications, pain relief products, and over-the-counter meds
- Users who spend money on household products
- Users who spend money on products for kids or pets, and what kinds of pets
- Users whose household makes more purchases than is average
- Users who tend to shop online (or off)
- Types of restaurants user eats at
- Kinds of stores user shops at
- Users who are “receptive” to offers from companies offering online auto insurance, higher education or mortgages, and prepaid debit cards/satellite TV
- Length of time user has lived in house
- Users who are likely to move soon
- Users who are interested in the Olympics, fall football, cricket or Ramadan
- Users who travel frequently, for work or pleasure
- Users who commute to work
- Types of vacations user tends to go on
- Users who recently returned from a trip
- Users who recently used a travel app
- Users who participate in a timeshare
How does Facebook find out all of this information?
- Data sharing. Companies and organisations legally and openly share data all of the time - have you ever clicked on the terms and conditions without actually reading them?
- Page and post likes. If you like something on Facebook, this will be logged and you're more likely to see an advert that relates to that post or page. The more pages about a certain topic that you like, the higher the likelihood that you'll see an advert!
- Page visits. Each time you visit a website through Facebook, your activity will be monitored and used for audience building.
- Topics you talk about. If you get involved in discussions on your page (or someone else's) then this will show that you're interested in the topic being discussed.
- Page Pixels. Some websites will carry tools that allow them to track visits and link those visits to your Facebook page - news sites are big users of these add-ons.
It has to be said that Facebook are very open about their advertising policy, although like all data collection and storage activities, they could probably be a little more transparent if they really tried!
We have a saying here at immunizeNet - nothing is private, everything is permanent. You're pretty much giving up your privacy by using most apps and websites online and whilst that is disconcerting to some extent, most of us will just have to accept that fact in order to use the Internet!