Facebook to Access Outside Data from Third Party Websites and Apps to Target Ads to Users

Facebook has announced that it will be adding data it is starting to collect from third party apps and websites to better target ads to Facebook users. This information will provide the ability to further segment ads that are shown to users and can provide information that users may not be sharing on the Facebook platform itself. Users will have the ability to opt out if they prefer to do so.

Facebook is also giving users more control with the ads they see with Ad Preferences, a new tool accessible from every ad on Facebook that explains why a user is seeing a specific ad and lets them add and remove interests that Facebook uses to show ads. This is an especially crafty move, as the company is engaging users into the ad serving process.