Whether we like it or not, we’ve all become a part of a global database, stripped of our privacy. Giants such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others are continuously collecting as much data about us as possible. While having a large collection of data about hundreds of millions of users is great (from an advertiser’s point of view), not being able to effectively utilize it essentially makes it useless. Facebook has overcome this issue recently and managed to index every post, by every user, for the past 8 years. According to Mark Zuckerberg, this adds up to over one trillion indexed, searchable posts.
What does it mean for regular users? Besides being able to search for posts by you or your friends, will anything else change? From our perspective, it may seem as though nothing has changed, but the new post search option gives Facebook advertisers an unprecedented look into who we were, who we are, and possibly the ability to predict who we will become. Although Facebook claims that there are no new advertising options due to post search yet – the keyword here is “yet.”
It’s only a matter of time before developers learn to take advantage of this new option. If you think the currents ads, based on sites you visited, are creepy, brace yourself for the next level. New patterns of user interests will surely emerge. That’s not to mention the fact that this certainly will not help users get rid of the feeling of being watched by the Big Brother.
Some users, on the other hand, are happy to hear that advertisements will be more relevant. After all, wouldn’t you rather see an ad for products/services you might actually be interested in rather than something based on websites that, let’s say, your wife visited on your computer?
Whatever our opinion on the matter is, one thing is for sure: ads are here to stay – and they will only get more relevant and “intelligent” with time.
