After months of controversy over Facebook's ad policy, with a number of users questioning the ads that appear on their feeds, the social network is to launch a number of new advertisement preferences for stronger user control over ads. For example, users can ask not to see a certain type of ad in the future.
Facebook says there will be a link next to every ad that will give users the opportunity to understand why an ad was chosen and giving users information on what they can do to either remove it or see more like it.
However, already there are concerns arising that by giving users more ability to change the ads they see on their pages, it also will require those same users to give out much more information and personal data to Facebook in order to change their settings.
"Today, we learn about your interests primarily from the things you do on Facebook, such as Pages you like. Starting soon in the US, we will also include information from some of the websites and apps you use. This is a type of interest-based advertising, and many companies already do this," a Facebook blog post announcing the changes read.
For many observers, this is a compromise Facebook is making with their over 1 billion users. But the user has to take the initiative in order to get the changes made permanent.
In many ways, it is an extension of targeted ads, which Facebook has pushed into its network, but allows users to have some say in the ads that are published on their pages.
Currently, Facebook's ad placements are based on users' specific profiles, likes and the pages liked or linked to, giving the social network a massive amount of information concerning individual users. Companies pay for ads on Facebook that are targeted specifically based on the interests and searching of users.
Now, with this new effort to give users a greater say in their ads, it should help give Facebook a leg up on the competition as it gives more control to each individual user.
