Facebook reveals every creepy bit of information that it stores on its users
There are 98 different things – including some of the most personal information there can be about a person
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Your support makes all the difference.Facebook has revealed the huge number of things it knows about people – and uses to send them ads.
Most people might presume that Facebook knows almost everything about their lives. But it has been quiet about exactly what information it has, how it does it and how the data is stored.
Now it has opened up slightly by launching a special page intended to educate its users about what exactly it is collecting.
That page reveals all of the information that Facebook has on a person. And some of it is of the most intimate, personal nature.
Parts of the data are clearly assembled from the kinds of questions that people are asked when they use or join up to the site. Where they went to school or their age, for instance, are both used when registering; and other things like whether a person is recently married can easily be figured out from people’s posts on the site.
But other parts of the information are far more personal. The site collects whether a person owns a car – and, importantly, whether they’re planning to buy another car, and how soon. It also allows advertisers to target people who are "heavy" buyers of alcohol, people who have a lobt of debt, or people who are "receptive" tpo offers from companies offering online deals.
That kind of information is collected from around the internet, since Facebook watches its users as they travel around visiting other pages. A visit to a certain car brand’s website will help register the sort of car a person is looking for, and the number and length of those visits will help indicate how serious the user is about buying one.
Facebook says that it collects the information in part so that ads are more useful to people. The page that includes the various types of ads tells users that the company believes “the ads you see across the Facebook family of apps and services should be useful and relevant to you”, for instance.
It collects that information in a variety of ways, Facebook says. That might come through Facebook’s own apps and services; information that is shared with a business, including through loyalty programs; location, like where a phone is; and “other online activity”.
It’s that last kind that is the most secretive, and discussed. Every page that includes a Facebook share or like button allows Facebook to see when a signed-in user visits their site, and that can then be used to target ads.
Those ads themselves can then be bought by companies, who can choose to use any of the information to target ads at specific people.
The full list of 98 different datapoints that Facebook stores about people is below.
- Location
- Age
- Generation
- Gender
- Language
- Education level
- Field of study
- School
- Ethnic affinity
- Income and net worth
- Home ownership and type
- Home value
- Property size
- Square footage of home
- Year home was built
- Household composition
- Users who have an anniversary within 30 days
- Users who are away from family or hometown
- Users who are friends with someone who has an anniversary, is newly married or engaged, recently moved, or has an upcoming birthday
- Users in long-distance relationships
- Users in new relationships
- Users who have new jobs
- Users who are newly engaged
- Users who are newly married
- Users who have recently moved
- Users who have birthdays soon
- Parents
- Expectant parents
- Mothers, divided by “type” (soccer, trendy, etc.)
- Users who are likely to engage in politics
- Conservatives and liberals
- Relationship status
- Employer
- Industry
- Job title
- Office type
- Interests
- Users who own motorcycles
- Users who plan to buy a car (and what kind/brand of car, and how soon)
- Users who bought auto parts or accessories recently
- Users who are likely to need auto parts or services
- Style and brand of car you drive
- Year car was bought
- Age of car
- How much money user is likely to spend on next car
- Where user is likely to buy next car
- How many employees your company has
- Users who own small businesses
- Users who work in management or are executives
- Users who have donated to charity (divided by type)
- Operating system
- Users who play canvas games
- Users who own a gaming console
- Users who have created a Facebook event
- Users who have used Facebook Payments
- Users who have spent more than average on Facebook Payments
- Users who administer a Facebook page
- Users who have recently uploaded photos to Facebook
- Internet browser
- Email service
- Early/late adopters of technology
- Expats (divided by what country they are from originally)
- Users who belong to a credit union, national bank or regional bank
- Users who investor (divided by investment type)
- Number of credit lines
- Users who are active credit card users
- Credit card type
- Users who have a debit card
- Users who carry a balance on their credit card
- Users who listen to the radio
- Preference in TV shows
- Users who use a mobile device (divided by what brand they use)
- Internet connection type
- Users who recently acquired a smartphone or tablet
- Users who access the Internet through a smartphone or tablet
- Users who use coupons
- Types of clothing user’s household buys
- Time of year user’s household shops most
- Users who are “heavy” buyers of beer, wine or spirits
- Users who buy groceries (and what kinds)
- Users who buy beauty products
- Users who buy allergy medications, cough/cold medications, pain relief products, and over-the-counter meds
- Users who spend money on household products
- Users who spend money on products for kids or pets, and what kinds of pets
- Users whose household makes more purchases than is average
- Users who tend to shop online (or off)
- Types of restaurants user eats at
- Kinds of stores user shops at
- Users who are “receptive” to offers from companies offering online auto insurance, higher education or mortgages, and prepaid debit cards/satellite TV
- Length of time user has lived in house
- Users who are likely to move soon
- Users who are interested in the Olympics, fall football, cricket or Ramadan
- Users who travel frequently, for work or pleasure
- Users who commute to work
- Types of vacations user tends to go on
- Users who recently returned from a trip
- Users who recently used a travel app
- Users who participate in a timeshare
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