Here's how to find out which brands, sports, and musicians Facebook and Instagram think you're interested in

Person lying on bed using their phone in a bedroom — Facebook and Instagram keep a list of the topics they think interest you in your Meta Accounts Center.
Maskot/Getty Images

Facebook and Instagram keep a list of topics they think interest you in your Meta Accounts Center.
These topics, like brands and sports, are used to serve you ads Meta thinks you'll find relevant.
Here's how to find out what Facebook and Instagram think you like via their apps.

Have you ever opened Instagram only to be alarmed by how the app is targeting you with ads that seem tailor-made to you? Or has the opposite happened and you've been bombarded with ads that don't align with your interests?

Well, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, uses your online activity to create a list of topics – like brands, genres of music, and hobbies – it thinks you're interested in.

A cold Starbucks drink
Zhang Peng / Getty Images

This is how to find that information using the Instagram app. First, you need to tap on your profile picture in the bottom-right corner to go to your profile.

A screenshot of the Instagram homepage — Instagram

Next, tap the icon of three small lines in the top-right corner.

Instagram

Then you need to select "settings and privacy."

Once you're here, you can tap to go through to your Meta Accounts Center, which the company says enables you to manage your "connected experiences and account settings" across its products.

You can also get to your Meta Accounts Center on the Facebook app. From your newsfeed, tap your profile picture in the top-right corner.

A screenshot of a Facebook homepage — Facebook

This loads up a menu with various options. You need to choose the small cog icon at the top right.

A screenshot of a Facebook menu page — Facebook

From there, you can open up your Meta Accounts Center.

Once you're in the Meta Accounts Center you need to tap on "ad preferences."

This takes you to a page with information on how Meta targets ads at users, amend your settings, and look at a list of ads you've recently interacted with. Clicking "ad topics" allows you to view and manage the topics that Meta thinks you're interested in.

A screenshot of the Meta Accounts Centre ad preferences page on Instagram — Instagram

Meta says that advertisers "can reach you based on topics that we think you like from your activity." You can look at a list of the ad topics Meta thinks you're interested in, as well as ones that you've chosen to see less off.

These are the top results for me under my Meta ad topics.

Some of these made sense, such as travel, holidays, and hiking trails. I also frequently write about high net worth individuals and luxury goods for work.

But all the running-related topics confused me. I started running at the start of the year and ran my first charity half-marathon in May, but I had definitely never expressed any interest in events like the Chicago Marathon and the Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. This perhaps explained why I'd recently been getting so many ads for charity marathons and sports clothing – clearly Meta thinks I'm obsessed with running.

Some of the topics are quite broad – such as home design, streetwear, punk rock, and "natural environment" – while others are specific, including brands (Chanel), websites (Apartments.com), and publications (Golf Digest).

Three screenshots of lists of ad topics from Meta's ad center — Instagram

Listed in my ad topics was also the Japanese manga series Death Note and the Italian talent show "Amici di Maria De Filippi," both of which I'd never heard of before. There were also a number of bands and musicians I was unfamiliar with on the list.

There were also many topics I've never expressed any interest in, like the Masters Tournament, baby and toddler food, and Fender Telecaster guitars.

You're also able to filter your ad topics by areas such as "sports & recreation" and "fashion and style" ...

... as well as sort them by alphabetical order, by recent interactions, and by which are most frequently shown.

Going back to this screen, you can tap "review topic choices" at the bottom to see which topics you've previously chosen to see less off.

This was my list of things I apparently didn't want to see as many ads related to. You can click on each one for the option to no longer see less of that topic.

On your ad settings page, you can change a whole host of settings.

These include settings related to whether Meta uses activity information from companies, such as what you've done on their website or app or in person, to show ads that it thinks will be more relevant for you.

"For example, if you buy a pair of shoes at your local shopping centre, you might later see an ad for more shoes from that same company or a similar company," one of the settings pages says.

Meta also lets you control which categories advertisers can use to reach you, such as your employer, job title, education, and relationship status.

Other categories Meta says I'm in that advertisers can use to target me include people born in my birthday month, people who live away from their family and their home town, people who are frequent international travellers, and people who are friends of men or women with upcoming birthdays.

Meta says on one of the pages in its accounts center that it doesn't "sell or share your personal information with advertisers," including your names and the content of your posts.

Screenshot from Meta ads page information — Instagram

Meta says that advertisers you interact with outside of the site can share information about you with the company "to help us improve you ad experience," but reinforces that users are "always" in control of their ad settings.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Contributer : Business Insider https://ift.tt/IWvMe0L

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