Study Shows Facebook Targeting Gets Wrong About a Third of the Time

The conducted research revealed the reasons why Facebook cannot accurately determine the interests of users and misses with advertisements.

Researchers from North Carolina State University conducted a large-scale study to shed light on exactly how Facebook determines the interests of users. The data obtained made it possible to find the reason why about 30% of ads shown are based on erroneous assumptions and do not achieve their goals.

The researchers confirmed the previously known fact that the determination of interests is based on user actions. However, an important nuance has also become obvious - the analysis process does not take into account such an important factor as the context of these actions. The paper describes an example when a negative post about a product led to the fact that the user who wrote it saw more ads with this product. That is, a simple mention of the product, without regard to the context, led to the display of advertisements, which in this case were ineffective and were simply a waste of money for the advertiser.

Also, the researchers, based on the analysis of actions in specially created accounts, found that even a simple scrolling of the page gave the platform reason to attribute the topic of this page in the interests of the user. As a result, about 33.2% of identified interests were inaccurate.