Recently, I was browsing for alternatives to Twilio for SMS services because I found Twilio to be too pricey and complicated to set up. I landed on a few promising options and clicked around to explore them. However, today, I noticed ads popping up on Facebook for services like SendBlue and Linqapp. I didn't search for these on Facebook or Instagram, which got me thinking about how this targeted advertising works. Is there data sharing going on between Chrome and Facebook? Or is Facebook somehow accessing my browser data? Is there a partnership between Meta and Google that I'm unaware of? How exactly are they managing to serve me these ads?
5 Answers
It’s not just about cookies, either. If you have the Facebook app installed on your phone, it might be gathering all kinds of data, from your geo-location to contacts. It’s wild how they can create profiles based on all that information, sometimes even before you realize it yourself!
Many websites utilize visitor tracking, and Facebook Pixel is one of those options. If you log into third-party apps with Facebook or Google, they can share user data back to Facebook. Plus, there are rumors that the app can pick up audio as well; pretty concerning.
Thanks for the info! Learning that Facebook can track through services I didn't even think about is eye-opening.
Third-party cookies play a big role here. If websites have Facebook tracking pixels, they can read cookies and gather user data. Facebook can convince enough sites to implement this tracking, which helps them target ads effectively.
So, it all comes down to how many sites use Facebook's tools, then? Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying!
Facebook is known for tracking a ton of user data across various sites. Every time you visit a site with a 'Like' button or a Facebook pixel, it contributes to their tracking system. Even if you used different browsers, Facebook could still target you based on your overall browsing activity.
That definitely sounds creepy! I had no idea they could gather that much information just based on browsing.
It likely has to do with the tracking pixels Facebook uses on a lot of websites. When you visit a site that has these pixels, it collects data about your browsing habits. So, those ads popping up on Facebook are probably because the website you checked out shared your info with Facebook through their tracking tools.
Got it! So it’s not really Chrome feeding info to Facebook, but rather the site like SendBlue sharing data. That’s wild!
That sounds really invasive... I might need to rethink my app usage!