Facebook’s new ‘Off-Facebook Activity’ feature

27 August 2019
Amy Harrison

It’s not unusual for Facebook to hit the headlines, but in recent news the social media giant took us behind the scenes to show us what type of data it collects from users.

In its recent phase of updates, Facebook has introduced a new feature in its settings called “Off-Facebook Activity” which displays the apps and websites that send information about you to Facebook which is then used in Facebook’s advertising strategy. However, the feature hasn’t been rolled out globally yet, it’s currently being tested in Ireland, South Korea and Spain.

There are several ways in which Facebook receives information about you from outside sources. Have you ever noticed when registering for a new account on certain websites or apps they allow the option to use your social media login as a form of access? Essentially, you’re allowing that source to then send personal information about your online activity to Facebook. The Facebook Pixel is another tracking method that captures data – it’s not on every website but is becoming an increasingly useful tool for companies to collect your data whilst you surf a site. Using this information and Facebook, companies can then remarket via your newsfeed, cleverly showing you an item of clothing you browsed online for earlier but didn’t proceed to buy.

The objective of the new feature is to give the user control over their data, meaning you’ll be able to remove data from your Facebook profile by either clearing it entirely or singling out certain websites and apps. However, Facebook will still collect data, but it will become anonymised meaning you won’t be remarketed to.

What will happen to Facebook’s advertising platform – a question on most people’s minds. As a marketing agency ourselves, it will be interesting to see the impact the new feature will have on our and our client’s campaigns. We’re looking forward to getting our hands on the new feature once it’s rolled out to the UK.

Image courtesy of Product Hunt

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