Lately, I have been noticing that Facebook's targeted advertising has been a lot more on the mark than it has been in the past.
Targeted advertising, in new media (e.g. social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is the use of various web technologies that track your online activities such as web searches, email content, social media postings, likes and +1s, etc. This data collection is then used to target pertinent and relevant ads to the consumer who use free services such as Facebook, or Google Search.
In the past, I've criticized how badly these new technologies have managed to "target" ads to me in the past, despite my life online being an open book; I don't use any ad blocking technologies, or pop-up blockers, etc. as I see a value in these services remaining free, and let's face it...Googling ain't free.
Anyway, lately these ads have been getting quite a bit better. For instance, Kristie has been doing some google searches on new running shoes that we need, and she has been seeing ads for those running shoes in Facebook and Google. I have been doing some web searches for a new Chromebook lately, and lo and behold, for the last couple of nights I have been seeing ads in my Facebook feed that are displaying various chromebooks with the specs I was looking for (see screenshot).
So in this screenshot from Facebook, you will see that located very prominently is one of the top reviewed Chromebooks available at this time, and for a pretty good price via Amazon.com. Of course you'll also see an advertisement for suit jackets too, which is strange, because unless we're talking about potato jackets, I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned them before. Be that as it may, you can see that targeted advertising is giving me (sometimes) relevant content that helps both me (the consumer) and the advertisers/merchants.
Well, in theory that is how it should work. The only problem, other than the suit jacket suggestion, is that while getting better, this technology still isn't perfect (see screenshot below).
As you can see in this screenshot, was almost perfectly targeted to me:
Targeted advertising, in new media (e.g. social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is the use of various web technologies that track your online activities such as web searches, email content, social media postings, likes and +1s, etc. This data collection is then used to target pertinent and relevant ads to the consumer who use free services such as Facebook, or Google Search.
In the past, I've criticized how badly these new technologies have managed to "target" ads to me in the past, despite my life online being an open book; I don't use any ad blocking technologies, or pop-up blockers, etc. as I see a value in these services remaining free, and let's face it...Googling ain't free.
Anyway, lately these ads have been getting quite a bit better. For instance, Kristie has been doing some google searches on new running shoes that we need, and she has been seeing ads for those running shoes in Facebook and Google. I have been doing some web searches for a new Chromebook lately, and lo and behold, for the last couple of nights I have been seeing ads in my Facebook feed that are displaying various chromebooks with the specs I was looking for (see screenshot).
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| Sceenshot of (sort of) targeted ad |
Well, in theory that is how it should work. The only problem, other than the suit jacket suggestion, is that while getting better, this technology still isn't perfect (see screenshot below).
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| Screenshot of targeted ad...that just misses the mark |
- I was looking for the best rated Chromebook
- It showed a price that was competetive
but...
You can see that right in the description, that this product does not ship to New Zealand! D'oh! Now, clearly the Facebook, Amazon and the web browser (Chrome), all had the pertinent information, but they still weren't quite able to target the ad properly.
As I said, the technology is getting better, and I look forward to being able to spend epic amounts of money without even realising it is happening, in the very near future.
Got any questions or concerns about targeted advertising? Let me know either via the blog comments or on Facebook.
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