Facebook Follows its Users across Cyberspace

Facebook Follows its Users across Cyberspace

  • By Ginger Hill
  • Aug 06, 2014

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you can feel someone watching you, but when you look over there’s no one there? Or, how about chowing down at your favorite restaurant only to discover that every time you look up from your plate, a person is staring at you from across the room? Annoying, right? Well, believe it or not, this is what Facebook is doing to its users.

Facebook Follows its Users across CyberspaceSimply put, Facebook is following us.

According to the social media giant, they follow us when we surf the web and use apps on our smartphone for “marketing research,” for lack of a better term, to create ads that appeal specifically to us.

On the flip side, Facebook is becoming more transparent, noted as the first major Internet company to offer an explanation as to why we’re seeing certain ads and will even allow us to control the types of ads we see in the future, if we know where to look.

How to Stop Facebook from Aiming Specific Ad Topics at You

  1. Find an ad and click on the corner icon.
  2. Select “Why am I seeing this?” from the menu.
  3. An explanation will pop up.
  4. Under the explanation click the “View and manage your ad preferences” link.
  5. Facebook’s data they have gathered about you will show and you can edit the list.

NOTE: If you remove all topics, Facebook will keep your gender, age and where you live in their ad-targeting system.

How to Stop Facebook (and other companies) From Tracking You

If your browser keeps cookies, there’s nothing you can do to prevent any company from tracking you; however, you can stop them from using that information to deliver ads. All you have to do is register with each company that tracks you and opt out at www.aboutads.info/choices/.

How to Stop Facebook from Knowing Your Smartphone’s Location

Turn off location sharing. For iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy, then Location Services and flip the Facebook switch off.

How to Stop Facebook from Using App Data

This requires telling your smartphone, not Facebook. For iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy, then advertising and turn on “Limit Ad Tracking.” For Droids, go to Settings, then Accounts, then select Google and then Ads. Click “Opt out of interest-based ads.”

The harsh reality of taking our privacy into our own hands when it comes to Facebook? The company can change the rules at any time.

About the Author

Ginger Hill is Group Social Media Manager.

Featured

  • Report: 47 Percent of Security Service Providers Are Not Yet Using AI or Automation Tools

    Trackforce, a provider of security workforce management platforms, today announced the launch of its 2025 Physical Security Operations Benchmark Report, an industry-first study that benchmarks both private security service providers and corporate security teams side by side. Based on a survey of over 300 security professionals across the globe, the report provides a comprehensive look at the state of physical security operations. Read Now

    • Guard Services

  • Identity Governance at the Crossroads of Complexity and Scale

    Modern enterprises are grappling with an increasing number of identities, both human and machine, across an ever-growing number of systems. They must also deal with increased operational demands, including faster onboarding, more scalable models, and tighter security enforcement. Navigating these ever-growing challenges with speed and accuracy requires a new approach to identity governance that is built for the future enterprise. Read Now

  • Eagle Eye Networks Launches AI Camera Gun Detection

    Eagle Eye Networks, a provider of cloud video surveillance, recently introduced Eagle Eye Gun Detection, a new layer of protection for schools and businesses that works with existing security cameras and infrastructure. Eagle Eye Networks is the first to build gun detection into its platform. Read Now

  • Report: AI is Supercharging Old-School Cybercriminal Tactics

    AI isn’t just transforming how we work. It’s reshaping how cybercriminals attack, with threat actors exploiting AI to mass produce malicious code loaders, steal browser credentials and accelerate cloud attacks, according to a new report from Elastic. Read Now

  • Pragmatism, Productivity, and the Push for Accountability in 2025-2026

    Every year, the security industry debates whether artificial intelligence is a disruption, an enabler, or a distraction. By 2025, that conversation matured, where AI became a working dimension in physical identity and access management (PIAM) programs. Observations from 2025 highlight this turning point in AI’s role in access control and define how security leaders are being distinguished based on how they apply it. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Mobile Safe Shield

    Mobile Safe Shield

    SafeWood Designs, Inc., a manufacturer of patented bullet resistant products, is excited to announce the launch of the Mobile Safe Shield. The Mobile Safe Shield is a moveable bullet resistant shield that provides protection in the event of an assailant and supplies cover in the event of an active shooter. With a heavy-duty steel frame, quality castor wheels, and bullet resistant core, the Mobile Safe Shield is a perfect addition to any guard station, security desks, courthouses, police stations, schools, office spaces and more. The Mobile Safe Shield is incredibly customizable. Bullet resistant materials are available in UL 752 Levels 1 through 8 and include glass, white board, tack board, veneer, and plastic laminate. Flexibility in bullet resistant materials allows for the Mobile Safe Shield to blend more with current interior décor for a seamless design aesthetic. Optional custom paint colors are also available for the steel frame.