Facebook said to let some companies see pages you like
The social network allows select marketers to look at their fans' other interests to help plan advertising efforts, Adweek reports.
Facebook is letting some companies look at the other "Likes" of their fans. This means if you like a brand's page, that brand's marketers knows what your other "Likes" are, whether it be your favorite bands or TV shows, unidentified sources told the advertising magazine. For now, this tool is available only to "priority accounts," according to an AdWeek report.
When asked for comment or confirmation, a Facebook spokesperson initially said the company had nothing to share at this time. The company followed with this statement:
To help marketers build better campaigns, Facebook offers aggregated insights to managed clients that help them understand trends about their fan bases. These tools do not provide marketers with any data about their competitors' fan bases. As always, Facebook does not share user-specific data with advertisers.
Companies could this kind of information to plan their advertising strategy. Fans' interests, which could include favorite bands or TV shows, could help advertisers know how to stay relevant to consumers who have already expressed interest in their brand. This could manifest in which songs are chosen in TV ads or what partnerships are valuable.
Now that it's a public company, Facebook is under a lot of pressure to keep advertisers happy in order to make money. While this tool is valuable for advertisers, Facebook users may not feel so good about it. The social network'spast attempt to advertise off Likes spurred a $20 million lawsuit.
Updated Thursday at 11:31 a.m. PT: with Facebook's statement.