Starting immediately, advertisers will be able to target anyone who visits a website or mobile app within Facebook’s Audience network, whether they are Facebook users or not. This is an important step for the company as it marks the end of its walled-garden strategy.
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Until now, Facebook would only show ads to you if you already were a Facebook user. The company was using everything it knows about you, and what you do on the platform to target you by interests, behaviours and demographics.
But now, Audience Network (that’s the network of websites and apps Facebook uses to show you ads outside its own platform) will also show ads to people who have never used Facebook, as confirmed by Andrew Bosworth, vice president of ads and business platform:
[quote]Today, we’re expanding Audience Network so publishers and developers can show better ads to everyone — including those who don’t use or aren’t connected to Facebook.[/quote]
Of course, this kind of tracking across the web is not new – Google, for example, has been doing it for years. But this change in strategy will significantly increase the volume of ads Facebook will be able to place on the internet now, reaching out to more people than ever, and seriously threatening Google’s stronghold over online advertising.
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If you are not a Facebook user, you will still have the possibility to opt out of the Facebook ads. And so can Facebook users, who can choose not see Facebook ads outside of Facebook itself.
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