Facebook advertising network to show ads to non-users across the web
27 May 2016
Facebook's advertising network has started showing ads to non-users across the web. Earlier, people who were either not Facebook users or not logged into the social network, were not able to see Facebook advertising on third party websites or mobile apps - powered by the Facebook Audience Network. But that changed yesterday.
With over 1.6 billion active users who shared a range of personal information through its service, Facebook had built a huge advertising business that allowed companies to drill down into individual detail when targeting the audience they wanted to reach.
That had changed the game for generating interest in websites, services, app downloads or just about everything online. While Facebook's Audience Network had allowed it to extend its reach outside of Facebook to let advertisers find Facebook users while they were not on the social network, with today's move it could hand advertisers the power to reach even more people.
The Wall Street Journal said Facebook would use a mix of cookie tracking, its own buttons and plugins and other data to identify non-users on third-party websites. Additionally, Facebook would use patterns within its massive user-base to make educated guesses about non-users to help target them with more relevant advertising.
Meanwhile, as it expanded reach and targeting, Facebook was also giving people more control over the ads they were shown on the network, either by opting-out (via AdChoices) or adjusting their ad preferences in Facebook if they were Facebook users.
Also Facebook said the quality of its Audience Network ads was higher than general mobile ads. These units were also ''more respectful'' of users in various ways.
According to a blog post from Facebook Ads VP Andrew Bosworth,"Ads are reviewed against our standards and to ensure they are as respectful of people's experience as possible. For example, we don't permit ads that include sound unless you interact with them and we prohibit deceptive ads and ads for unsafe products and services. We've developed technology to determine when someone clicks on an ad on a mobile device by accident, so you don't get taken to a website or app you didn't mean to visit."
