Facebook and Your Ad Preferences

Ad driven web sites pine to know as much *real* information about you as possible. A more successful targeted ad could lead to a click through purchase, revenue for the ad network, etc. With that said, Facebook let’s you manage your advertisement preferences. They show you what they think they know about you, suggest other areas you might be interested in, and let you add/subtract as you please. Check yours out here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/edit/

Earlier this week a few of us at the Blue Ion HQ checked out how accurate, or inaccurate, Facebook had us targeted. A couple favorites are below demonstrating it’s not quite a foolproof science yet…

• Chris: “My hobbies include “slaughterhouse”, taxidermy, turtles, and stage lighting instruments”
• Brian: “Big Hair. Hobby: Washing machine, Dental floss”
• Bennett: “Becoming a chocolatier, surf laundry detergent, Royal Society (wtf!?), eggnog, dental floss”
• Nic: “Apparently I like Partying, Horse Back Riding and Reptiles…”
• Erin: “-Hobbies that are way off base: triathalons, veganism, robotics, horseback riding
  -Education: User Interface Design Major (in reality Journalism)
  -Lifestyle & Culture: Colonialism (WTF) & Hogwarts (Hell yes)”
• Robert: “I got…League of Communists of Yugoslavia….?”

How accurate are your ad preferences? Leave us a comment below detailing them!