Daily Telegraph: You’re probably familiar with Facebook advertising. If you’re in marketing, you may even use it. But many of us are still unsure about what types of user data Facebook collects and how they use it for advertising.
In an attempt to shed some light, here is an outline of the ways Facebook incorporates user data into its advertising (and the ways it doesn’t).
Your Data
There are a few pieces of data required to create a Facebook account, such as your name, gender and network (e.g. your school or company). That information, along with your profile and cover photos, is publicly available, no matter what.
Facebook privately stores all your activity within their platform. Engagement with other users, such as commenting or sending a message, check-ins, Page likes, and other activity is recorded and privately stored.