Facebook hires data group to track ad success
FACEBOOK confirmed yesterday it is working with the US data provider Datalogix to measure how many people who view ads on the social networking site then go on to buy that product in a store.
The recently-listed group has been under pressure from Wall Street to show it can profit from its vast wealth of data. But it also faces pressure from regulators over the use of personal information.
Datalogix holds data from over $1 trillion consumer purchases made by more than 100m households at retail stores across the US.
Facebook said that by matching email address and other information used to set up an account on its site with data collected from retailers, Colorado-based Datalogix can help advertisers see whether shoppers bought a product before or after a campaign.
Despite concerns over privacy, sources close to the firm said that people would be able to look up their profiles to see what purchase information is associated with them.
If they wished, they could then opt out of having their information used for measurement purposes.
Currently, Facebook is only tracking this information for users of its site based in the US.