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Before anyone grabs their pitchforks and condemns ad-retargetng, the question has to be asked. How much did the OP pay to use Facebook as a social platform? Wit

Before anyone grabs their pitchforks and condemns ad-retargetng, the question has to be asked. How much did the OP pay to use Facebook as a social platform? With that said... There is nothing nefarious here. This is standard internet marketing efforts.

wernercd 13y ago
Just like standard AdBlock + Ghostery... and other assorted goodies to block that crap.
- ta_blockadead 13y ago
  Standard adblock would be adblock plus which is tied with advertisers through its infamous "acceptable ads" feature. see: http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-werbenetzwerk/ http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-einblicke-... https://medium.com/surveillance-state/cd2cb53bcaba https://medium.com/surveillance-state/cd2cb53bcaba http://www.infowars.com/google-reportedly-paid-adblock-plus-not-to-block-its-ads/ http://www.infowars.com/google-reportedly-paid-adblock-plus-... http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/adblock-plus-accused-of-shaking-down-websites/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/adblock-plus-accused-of-sha... Ghostery works for the advertisement industry by building profile of blocked ads to allow them to tweak the ads so you don't want to block them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery#Criticism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery#Criticism http://www.technologyreview.com/news/516156/a-popular-ad-blocker-also-helps-the-ad-industry/ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/516156/a-popular-ad-blo...
  - alextingle 13y ago
    Yeah, just turn off the "acceptable ads" too. I used to leave them on, until I learned that they were paid for.
  - 6d0debc071 13y ago
    > Ghostery works for the advertisement industry by building profile of blocked ads to allow them to tweak the ads so you don't want to block them. From the wikipage and the copy I have installed, it look like only if you enable Ghost Rank. (And as ways to use data goes I can think of worse things than making ads less annoying.)
gorhill 13y ago
> "How much did the OP pay to use Facebook as a social platform?" Spare me the "pitchforks". Nothing is free. We all pay for what appears to be free, the price is just very well hidden in the current case. Advertised products will have the cost of advertisement factored in their price. I am happy to block these unwanted ads, and to give people the tools to do so. Let's see where the supply/demand curves for ads intersect when you give people the choice.
jrochkind1 13y ago
OP wasn't neccesarily suggestiong anything nefarious, but was curious about the technical details of how this is done -- as are many of us. Can anyone give a basic technical explanation of how ad retargetting works, of how the information on what you looked at on Amazon makes it to wherever it is that controls what ads you see on facebook?
- fleitz 13y ago
  Basically it works like this: On amazon up they put an image or other code on their page that generates a random id and stores it in a cookie. When you're on Facebook the id is passed back to Amazon which can generate an ad based on your history. It works because the resource loaded on fb and amazon originates from the same domain. Eg. 3rdpartyretargettingadnetwork.com
  - mjmahone17 13y ago
    For more detailed information: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/ads-api/rtb/#cookie_matching https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/ads-api/rtb/#...
    - jrochkind1 13y ago
      thank you, this is super interesting.
  - jrochkind1 13y ago
    Makes sense. Will disabling third-party cookies, as per relevant configuration in Chrome or Firefox, make this impossible?
  - rlvesco7 13y ago
    I used to think this was the case, but I use chrome in incognito mode ( and only for fb!) and I'm starting to get retargeted ads. I suspect they are using some sort of 3rd party on the backend. Moreover, it's not only ads now ... I'm also seeing suggested groups that seem eerily creepy ...
alan_cx 13y ago
"How much did the OP pay to use Facebook as a social platform?" As much as (s)he paid 5 years ago when there wasnt any as-retargeting.
fauigerzigerk 13y ago
Probably as much as they asked for.

wernercd 13y ago

Just like standard AdBlock + Ghostery... and other assorted goodies to block that crap.

ta_blockadead 13y ago
Standard adblock would be adblock plus which is tied with advertisers through its infamous "acceptable ads" feature. see: http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-einblicke-in-ein-mafioeses-werbenetzwerk/ http://www.mobilegeeks.de/adblock-plus-undercover-einblicke-... https://medium.com/surveillance-state/cd2cb53bcaba https://medium.com/surveillance-state/cd2cb53bcaba http://www.infowars.com/google-reportedly-paid-adblock-plus-not-to-block-its-ads/ http://www.infowars.com/google-reportedly-paid-adblock-plus-... http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/adblock-plus-accused-of-shaking-down-websites/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/adblock-plus-accused-of-sha... Ghostery works for the advertisement industry by building profile of blocked ads to allow them to tweak the ads so you don't want to block them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery#Criticism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostery#Criticism http://www.technologyreview.com/news/516156/a-popular-ad-blocker-also-helps-the-ad-industry/ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/516156/a-popular-ad-blo...
- alextingle 13y ago
  Yeah, just turn off the "acceptable ads" too. I used to leave them on, until I learned that they were paid for.
- 6d0debc071 13y ago
  > Ghostery works for the advertisement industry by building profile of blocked ads to allow them to tweak the ads so you don't want to block them. From the wikipage and the copy I have installed, it look like only if you enable Ghost Rank. (And as ways to use data goes I can think of worse things than making ads less annoying.)

gorhill 13y ago

> "How much did the OP pay to use Facebook as a social platform?" Spare me the "pitchforks". Nothing is free. We all pay for what appears to be free, the price is just very well hidden in the current case. Advertised products will have the cost of advertisement factored in their price. I am happy to block these unwanted ads, and to give people the tools to do so. Let's see where the supply/demand curves for ads intersect when you give people the choice.

jrochkind1 13y ago

OP wasn't neccesarily suggestiong anything nefarious, but was curious about the technical details of how this is done -- as are many of us. Can anyone give a basic technical explanation of how ad retargetting works, of how the information on what you looked at on Amazon makes it to wherever it is that controls what ads you see on facebook?

fleitz 13y ago
Basically it works like this: On amazon up they put an image or other code on their page that generates a random id and stores it in a cookie. When you're on Facebook the id is passed back to Amazon which can generate an ad based on your history. It works because the resource loaded on fb and amazon originates from the same domain. Eg. 3rdpartyretargettingadnetwork.com
- mjmahone17 13y ago
  For more detailed information: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/ads-api/rtb/#cookie_matching https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/ads-api/rtb/#...
  - jrochkind1 13y ago
    thank you, this is super interesting.
- jrochkind1 13y ago
  Makes sense. Will disabling third-party cookies, as per relevant configuration in Chrome or Firefox, make this impossible?
- rlvesco7 13y ago
  I used to think this was the case, but I use chrome in incognito mode ( and only for fb!) and I'm starting to get retargeted ads. I suspect they are using some sort of 3rd party on the backend. Moreover, it's not only ads now ... I'm also seeing suggested groups that seem eerily creepy ...

alan_cx 13y ago

"How much did the OP pay to use Facebook as a social platform?" As much as (s)he paid 5 years ago when there wasnt any as-retargeting.

fauigerzigerk 13y ago

Probably as much as they asked for.