In the last week, Facebook have announced that they want to give their users more control over what ads they see. Facebook currently show ads to users based on their page likes and interests, over they next few weeks they will extend this to show ads based on website and app usage. They explain quite well in the user case below:

Let’s say that you’re thinking about buying a new TV, and you start researching TVs on the web and in mobile apps. We may show you ads for deals on a TV to help you get the best price or other brands to consider. And because we think you’re interested in electronics, we may show you ads for other electronics in the future, like speakers or a game console to go with your new TV.

Giving users a choice

This is not a compulsory feature of Facebook advertising network, users can opt out of the increased interest targeting (apps/websites) by using industry-standard Digital Advertising Alliance opt out, and on your mobile devices using the controls that iOS and Android provide.

Introducing ad preferences

The new Ad preferences tool will give users insight into why they are seeing every Ad. This will come as a welcomed update to users who aren’t yet acquainted with Facebook’s interest based advertising. Essentially this will give users the chance to reorganize their interests so that they will only see ads that are relevant to them . The new tool will available to US based users in the coming weeks, then a wider roll out scheme will be put in place.

Check out the handy video below for a full overview of the new update
[vimeo 97740886 w=500 h=281]