Did you hover an ad or view specific parts of the News Feed on your smartphone? The social network might start collecting this type of data to improve its products and advertising business. October 30, 2013 10:16 AM PDT (Credit: Screenshot/Jennifer Van Grove/CNET) Facebook is testing new Web and mobile tracking methods to better understand member behavior and determine things such as how long people hover over various types of content. The company is mulling whether to incorporate such data collection practices on a broader scale, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The social network ultimately aims to enhance its existing collection of demographic and behavioral data on members, and would use the additional information to improve its products and advertising targeting capabilities, Ken Rudin, Facebook's head of analytics, told the Journal. Related posts BlackBerry reportedly propositioned Facebook for a bid Facebook's Messenger app: Practical is the new sexy Facebook's marketing biz dissed by Forrester Specifically, Facebook wants to know when your cursor hovers over an advertisement and when you're viewing various parts of the News Feed on your smartphone, Rudin said. The pre-click data could help Facebook boost its blooming native advertising business by improving how and when it shows ads to members on desktop or mobile. And marketers and advertisers will surely salivate over metrics that could help them determine a person's intent. Facebook's 1.15 billion members, however, may not be too keen on the idea of the social network tracking their less explicit behaviors and then passing that info on to advertisers. Rudin said the company will likely determine how it wants to proceed "in a couple of months."
Did you hover an ad or view specific parts of the News Feed on your smartphone? The social network might start collecting this type of data to improve its products and advertising business.
Facebook is testing new Web and mobile tracking methods to better understand member behavior and determine things such as how long people hover over various types of content. The company is mulling whether to incorporate such data collection practices on a broader scale, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The social network ultimately aims to enhance its existing collection of demographic and behavioral data on members, and would use the additional information to improve its products and advertising targeting capabilities, Ken Rudin, Facebook's head of analytics, told the Journal.
Related posts
- BlackBerry reportedly propositioned Facebook for a bid
- Facebook's Messenger app: Practical is the new sexy
- Facebook's marketing biz dissed by Forrester
Specifically, Facebook wants to know when your cursor hovers over an advertisement and when you're viewing various parts of the News Feed on your smartphone, Rudin said.
The pre-click data could help Facebook boost its blooming native advertising business by improving how and when it shows ads to members on desktop or mobile. And marketers and advertisers will surely salivate over metrics that could help them determine a person's intent. Facebook's 1.15 billion members, however, may not be too keen on the idea of the social network tracking their less explicit behaviors and then passing that info on to advertisers.
Rudin said the company will likely determine how it wants to proceed "in a couple of months."
