I think we can all agree that it’s creepy when we say something in a conversation and the next day we’re getting ads about it on social media, right? With social media security breaches and the general awareness that social media platforms are tracking you, have you ever wondered what exactly they know about you? There’s a way to find out, but many people don’t know about it! Remember, Instagram is owned by Facebook so this information also will explain ads you might see on Instagram as well.
To pull a full report on all the information Facebook has about you (some of it might be pretty surprising), go to “Settings,” then “Your Facebook Information” on the left. Then click ” Access Your Information” and scroll down to “Information About You.” The “Ads and Businesses” file is where you can see all of the companies that have uploaded information about you. You can even opt-out or revoke information as well.
If you want info on how to back-up your social pages, like comments, photos, videos, etc. I have a whole blog about that here.
You might find this information cool and interesting, others might find it terrifying. Let me know which category you fall into!
Gaining more control over the ads you see
I am writing this during an election year so political ads are EVERYWHERE. You can actually control the kinds of ads you see, including political. From the image above, click “ads and businesses.” Then under “your ads preferences,” scroll down to the bottom and find “ad topics.” I laughed when I saw these because none of them really apply to me so I chose to see fewer of all of them.
There’s a lot of information to sift through so take some time to browse and clear history as needed. Hope you found this helpful!