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If that's the case, then what's the benefit of advertising on Facebook? Isn't their main selling point that they can use their data about people to target ads?

If that's the case, then what's the benefit of advertising on Facebook? Isn't their main selling point that they can use their data about people to target ads? If they're just doing what the advertisers say, then what's the point? I guess it gets ads in front of people, but it seems they could charge more and have better results if they leveraged their data a bit.

TylerE 14y ago
The point is it's on the ad publisher to target intelligently. If they run their ad to "Males 18-35" that's their problem.
- zabuni 14y ago
  The issue is that they have to have more data than rough demographics. They could take the likes a person has, break them down in rough categories and do something like males 18-35 who like heavy metal and extreme sports. Then they'd get ads accordingly. Google gets this. If I start to search for things, they will follow me around. I would think that access to the majority of a person's communication with other people would give even more targeted ads.
  - omarchowdhury 14y ago
    From what I understand, it's not possible to target with the AND operator for multiple interests/likes, only the default BOOLEAN OR. SO, you can't target males 18-35 who like heavy metal and extreme sports. You can only target males 18-35 who like heavy metal OR extreme sports. Subtle, but very results changing difference. I hope I'm wrong on this point. Does anyone know how to do it?
- jlarocco 14y ago
  And my point is that it makes no sense for the ad publisher to target intelligently because Facebook has all the user data that can be used for targeting. In other words, I think Facebook should be selling advertisers a higher level service than broad demographics. Theoretically, I should be able to go to Facebook and say, "Here's my product, help me target my advertisements." Then Facebook looks through its data to see who "Likes" similar products or has searched for similar things or whatever, then figures out a target group based on that, and lets me advertise to them. To be honest, though, I block the ads on Facebook anyway, so I'm not too concerned about it
- wnight 14y ago
  Not really. If my Google ad doesn't get good responses Google replaces it with something that users like. If I insist on targeting the wrong crowd it gets very expensive. That's why Google ads suck less.

TylerE 14y ago

The point is it's on the ad publisher to target intelligently. If they run their ad to "Males 18-35" that's their problem.

zabuni 14y ago
The issue is that they have to have more data than rough demographics. They could take the likes a person has, break them down in rough categories and do something like males 18-35 who like heavy metal and extreme sports. Then they'd get ads accordingly. Google gets this. If I start to search for things, they will follow me around. I would think that access to the majority of a person's communication with other people would give even more targeted ads.
- omarchowdhury 14y ago
  From what I understand, it's not possible to target with the AND operator for multiple interests/likes, only the default BOOLEAN OR. SO, you can't target males 18-35 who like heavy metal and extreme sports. You can only target males 18-35 who like heavy metal OR extreme sports. Subtle, but very results changing difference. I hope I'm wrong on this point. Does anyone know how to do it?
jlarocco 14y ago
And my point is that it makes no sense for the ad publisher to target intelligently because Facebook has all the user data that can be used for targeting. In other words, I think Facebook should be selling advertisers a higher level service than broad demographics. Theoretically, I should be able to go to Facebook and say, "Here's my product, help me target my advertisements." Then Facebook looks through its data to see who "Likes" similar products or has searched for similar things or whatever, then figures out a target group based on that, and lets me advertise to them. To be honest, though, I block the ads on Facebook anyway, so I'm not too concerned about it
wnight 14y ago
Not really. If my Google ad doesn't get good responses Google replaces it with something that users like. If I insist on targeting the wrong crowd it gets very expensive. That's why Google ads suck less.