Following up on my post yesterday (ugh privacy):
In a recent Wall Street Journal commentary, Mark Zuckerberg claimed that Facebook users want to see ads tailored to their interests. But the data show the opposite is true. With the help of major polling firms, we conducted two large national telephone surveys of Americans in 2012 and 2009. When we asked people whether they wanted websites they visit to show them commercial ads, news or political ads “tailored to your interests,” a substantial majority said no. Around half did say they wanted discounts tailored to their interests. But that too changed after we told them how companies gathered the information that enables tailoring, such as following you on a website.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Delusion of Consumer Consent
Survey responses depend greatly on how questions are phrased and contextualized, and I’m not even sure how I’d answer this question myself.
I feel like I want relevant ads. But maybe not too relevant? There’s a line between, “get the most durable baby swing on the market!” (no thanks, go away!) and “buy that genetic test you’ve been researching!” (how did you know that??)
All we really know is that if there is a “right balance” between personalized ads and privacy, Facebook is obviously not incentivized to find it. But… who is? What is the right balance? I see precious little commentary on that.