In terms of digital advertising, Google is a 500-pound gorilla. Right now, Google is estimated to acquire 31.45% of all digital ad revenue in 2014. Facebook, coming in a distant second, is estimated to earn about 8% of total digital ad revenue. Facebook is launching a major effort to drink more of Google’s milkshake with the release of their new ad platform, Facebook Atlas.
What is Facebook Atlas?
A few years ago, Facebook purchased an ad platform called “Atlas” from Microsoft. After spending time developing it and adapting it to Facebook, the platform is ready to launch. Atlas will be able to target users at a more granular level than Google can with their current advertising platforms. Unlike Google Ads, which tracks using cookies, Atlas will collect public user data including shares, profile information, and other FB data to create ads that are better targeted to individual users. This is great news for brands that are constantly trying to come up with better ways to reach the users who are most likely to convert.
But is it Good News For Users?
Over the course of time, users concerns about privacy on the Internet have increased. Often, when a person sees an ad that seems TOO PERFECT they don’t think “Oh, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’m into,” they think “That’s eery and unsettling.” Generally, if someone thinks that a platform like Google or Facebook is taking too much of their personal data, they are apt to use that platform less, which means ads placed on those platforms won’t reach that potential customer.
As Facebook gets ready to launch Atlas, and really as any social platform looks to build a better ad platform, they need to be aware of their users’ privacy concerns. The trick to Atlas’s success might just be striking the right balance of privacy for users, and targeting for brands.
Familiarize yourself with Facebook ad scheduling for Facebook advertising success.
