Facebook Inc. took another step to reap commercial benefit from the lives of its billion-plus users, saying it will allow advertisers to target ads based on users’ Web-browsing habits.
Thursday’s move reversed Facebook’s previous position on users’ browsing data and renewed critics’ concerns about the company’s commitment to user privacy.
Over time, Facebook has broadened the ability to target its users. It has long allowed advertisers to target users based on their activity on Facebook, such as “likes” and fan pages. More recently, Facebook has allowed advertisers to target Facebook users who visit that company’s own website, and to send Facebook a list of customers to whom they want to advertise on the social network. On Thursday, it said it will add users’ Web-browsing histories to the targeting formula for advertisers.
The change highlights Facebook’s effort to continue to expand its advertising business, which generated $7 billion in revenue last year and rose at a 70% clip in the first quarter. Advertisers applauded the move.
Read the full story at Facebook to Expand Data Used in Ad Targeting – WSJ.
