Facebook will soon use 'Likes' on third-party sites for ad targeting

Dive Brief:

Facebook has plans to begin using data compiled from "Like" and "Share" buttons for ad-targeting, offering that engagement metric to marketers.
At the same time, it is adding a tool to the ad settings tab that makes it easy for its users to opt out of behaviorally targeted ads.
Facebook also recently announced it will launch some version of a "Dislike" button, although some insiders believe it will be more based around empathy than outright dislike.

Dive Insight:

Publishers who have opted to enable plug-ins to add Facebook "Like" and "Share" buttons on their sites and mobile apps will soon be able to funnel people's browsing habits into their ad-targeting systems.

The social network finally going to open that data from its social Graph up to marketers for behaviorally targeted ads. At the same time, it’s going to make it easy for users to opt out of those ads. Facebook is adding a tool to the ad setting tab that allows users to opt out of ads targeted based on their actions outside of the social network's platform and that opt-out will apply to ads on Facebook, Instagram and across the tech giant's mobile in-app ad network.

This new option gives users a finer grain of control over ads they get served because previously Facebook sent users to the Digital Advertising Alliance for tips on opting out of advertising instead of actively handling the opt-out within its own platform.

"We are continuing to roll out online interest-based advertising and will now begin including information from pages that use Facebook's Like button and similar social features, as we announced last year. We hope that the ads people see will continue to become more useful and relevant and that this new control will make it easier for people to have the ads experience they want," Facebook Global Deputy Chief Privacy Officer Stephen Deadman wrote in a blog post about the announcement.

In other news, Facebook users have long asked for a “dislike” button to go along with the ubiquitous “like” button, and it looks like they might finally be getting their wish according to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But, the final version of what the button might look like isn’t certain and some industry insiders are predicting it will end up being more of an empathy button than a true dislike button.