Skip to main content

Rating Facebook ads

Have you noticed the little 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' icons underneath those ads that appear (in new-look Facebook) along the right hand side of your screen?
Facebook allows you to rate these adverts, as shown in the text of the popup displayed below:


Tell us what you think

Why didn't you like this ad?

Choose reason:
Misleading
Offensive
Pornographic
Uninteresting
Irrelevant
Repetitive
Other

Thanks for your feedback. Over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to our users.
I have been studiously grading the adverts I get over the past few days, marking almost all of them as either 'uninteresting' or 'irrelevant', and actually, the amount of ads I'm now seeing for 'miracle diets' (wow, there's an incredible range of insane diets out there!) , debt management companies, 'free' stuff, ways to live like a celebrity, fundraising as a mother (why that one for me? I don't have kids, unless I've got really impressive amnesia), local foods in Birmingham, floristry courses at Bournville College, ways to fix bad credit ratings, credit card offers, accident compensation claims companies, and teeth whitening gels seems to be dropping off slightly.

But only slightly. I'm still seeing the same ads that I've graded as either 'uninteresting' or 'irrelevant' reappearing in the ad area. So what exactly are Facebook doing with my feedback?

Oh, wait, I've just noticed...now I have an advert for an "all natural loss product"...with no thumbs to rate it. I think Facebook has made a decision for me on what I really find irrelevant and uninteresting....

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey Jennie

I hadn't even noticed the thumbs up/thumbs down options - thanks for pointing them out.

Loving the line:
"Thanks for your feedback. Over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to our users".

How very thoughtful of them... ;-)
Christine
18 September 2008 at 16:23
cat reynolds said…
I have never noticed the Ads there..
I guess that ads are really bad for people like mee.I don't even notice them..:P
Sad times with the diet though..
13 February 2009 at 01:35
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The mysteries of cataloguing

Cataloguing: an arcane art, where each piece of punctuation is significant, and commas and semi colons are all-powerful. Well, they are in "proper" libraries, where in-depth research of esoteric points goes on, and the precise spelling of Christian names, and information such as when a person lived and died can be crucial in pinpointing obscure facts. Here, we have our own catalogue system. It doesn't have a name, but if it did, it would probably be something along the lines of "I need this book NOW, no I don't care about the precise spelling of the authors middle name, or their date of birth." I know, I know, it's not snappy, but it's accurate. Cataloguing demands are different in a commercial law firm: we don't care about much more than what it's about, who wrote, when, and what jurisdiction it covers. And what we really, really care about is "where the hell is it". Law books are amazing: they have the power to move themselves f...
12 comments
Read more

Careering along

When I look around at the activities of information professional groups, it seems that there’s a disparity. There’s quite often a lot of support and funding available for those who’re just starting out in the profession, but a desert of nothingness for those of us who’re “just getting on with it”. If you’re a new professional, you have lots of groups to support you as you progress in your early career, various prize funds available for essay and report writing, access to bursaries for conference attendance, eligibility for awards for being new and enthusiastic. But what do you get when you’re past that bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed first 5 years (5 years seems to be the approximate cut-off point for becoming “established” and no longer new). What happens when you’ve already received a bursary from an organisation earlier in your career and so wouldn’t be eligible for one now, meaning you’re not able to attend events or training? When you’re heavily involved in a project but not at ...
16 comments
Read more

UK librarian blogs - the list so far

I’ve pulled the previous entries into one alphabetical list, with a few categories. Will be back later with more detailed discussion of what I’ve learned by doing this. And, as always, if you know of other librarian blogs, let me know and I’ll add them in! Institutional Library Blogs / Professional Group Blogs aRKive Appears to be the blog of the Reid Kerr College library, or someone related to the Library, but unable to confirm as it doesn’t have any ‘about’ section that I can find. Lots of posts about library topics, books, IT… Brit Lib Blogs Google Group There’s a Google Group for British librarian bloggers! Unfortunately it looks to be pretty much unused at the moment. CILIP Blogs CILIP has various blogs by either staff, or links to relevant blogs, available from the Communities section. Varying levels of activity on these blogs – the PTEG blog has one post from November 2007, while Lyndsay’s CILIP Blog has been going has been going for almost a year, with at le...
14 comments
Read more