1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 1: John than Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: And how the Tech? Are you? A listener whom I 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: will refer to as are twe did in a request. 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: The reason I'm not giving the listener's name is that 7 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: the request has to do with a privacy breach issue, 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 1: and just to make sure I don't make a uncomfortable 9 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: situation even worse, I'm not going to say their name 10 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: on here, but I will say thank you are for 11 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: your request. Are wanted to know more about what is 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 1: now called meta pixel. Formally we would call it Facebook 13 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: pixel because some of ours personal data became compromised due 14 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 1: to an issue with Novant Health which apply misconfigured a 15 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: pixel tracker, which led to the unintentional sharing of personal 16 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: patient information with Facebook, which included medical data. That medical 17 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: data would include stuff like a type of of doctor's 18 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:19,360 Speaker 1: appointments someone was searching for, or which physician they selected 19 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,960 Speaker 1: to see that kind of thing. It didn't auto magically 20 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: know everything about a patient's medical history. It was more 21 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:31,559 Speaker 1: about specific activities having to do with an online tool. 22 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: So the pixel was meant to track the use of 23 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: this tool that no Vent had already launched but was 24 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: really promoting early on during the pandemic. The tool is 25 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: called my Chart. It's kind of a patient portal tool, 26 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 1: and Novent was trying to get more patients to be 27 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: aware of it and to use it to do things 28 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: like schedule virtual doctor visits because of course at the 29 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: time most of us were stuck at home. So the 30 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: tracking tool was really intended to give feedback to Novent 31 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:08,480 Speaker 1: about how it's marketing campaign on Facebook was performing and 32 00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: whether or not it was actually leading to more people 33 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: making use of the tools. So the intentions were good, 34 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: it's just it plaid out in a bad way. We'll 35 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: talk more about that later in this episode. So today 36 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,800 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the meta or Facebook pixel, 37 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: what that is, where it came from, and some of 38 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: the issues surrounding it. And while I'll mainly be talking 39 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: about Facebook in this episode when we're talking about the 40 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: platform used to display ads, pixel is something that also 41 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: plays a part in other meta platforms like Instagram. But 42 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: let's let's start off, let's talk about what a pixel 43 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: with a little P is because obviously meta pixel that 44 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: pixels and upper case P so lower case P what 45 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: is that kind of pixel? Normally, when I talk about 46 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: pixels in tech, i'm talking about the individual units in 47 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: a digital display that make up the points of light 48 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: that you see. When we talk about a displays resolution, 49 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,520 Speaker 1: we're really talking about the number of pixels that are 50 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: on that display. You measure it by going horizontally so 51 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: across and vertically up and down the screen. So if 52 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: I were to talk about Apple's sixteen inch macbuck Pro 53 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: Retina display, that specific device has a resolution that shows 54 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: three thousand seventy two pixels across, So it's three thousand 55 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: seventy two pixels wide and one thousand nine twenty pixels tall. 56 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: You multiply those two numbers together and you get the 57 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 1: total number of pixels that display is capable of showing 58 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: at one time. For this particular device, that happens to 59 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: be five million, eight hundred thousand, two hut picks piles uh. 60 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: In a very general sense, the more pixels you have 61 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: in a display, the higher resolution it is. Resolution is 62 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: not the be all, end all of everything, but for 63 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: a very long time, resolution was like the shorthand way 64 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: of saying this display is better because the number is bigger. 65 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: That's what your mainstream customers understand. Bigger number means better tech. 66 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: It's not always true, but that is kind of like 67 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: the easy shorthand. Anyway, when I'm talking about pixels, usually 68 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: these are the sort of things I'm talking about, these 69 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 1: little points of light. Either that or I'm talking about 70 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: a very disappointing film that starred Adam Sandler and Peter Dinglige. 71 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,720 Speaker 1: But the less said about that pixels the better in 72 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: my opinion, And in this case, neither of those definitions 73 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: really apply. The meta pixel, when you really get down 74 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: to it, isn't truly a pixel at all, or rather, 75 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: it's not quote unquote just of pixel. It's really a 76 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: package of code that web masters can incorporate into their 77 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: own web pages, so it's more like a cookie than 78 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: an actual pixel. Now, there is a pixel created in 79 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: this process, at least initially there was, and it's a 80 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: one by one pixel, So it's a single point on 81 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: a website, one little point. And usually it's transparent, so 82 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 1: you can't actually see it. You're seeing through the pixel 83 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: to the background, or it's it's coded in position so 84 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: that it blends right in with the background, so you 85 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: don't notice a pixel. That makes sense, because otherwise you 86 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:41,840 Speaker 1: would have this tiny little point of light that was 87 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: out of sync with all the other pixels around it, 88 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 1: and that would look strange. You might even think that 89 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,479 Speaker 1: there was something wrong with your display. So there is 90 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:54,200 Speaker 1: a pixel involved technically, but the point of lay itself 91 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: isn't really the important bit. It's the code underneath that matters, 92 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:04,240 Speaker 1: all right, So the tracking pixel is more like a cookie. 93 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: But that raises the question what is a cookie? Right? 94 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: If you don't know what a cookie is a web cookie, 95 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: then that that's not a very satisfying explanation. So a 96 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: web cookie is some data from a website that your 97 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 1: web browser will actually store within the browser itself, and 98 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: the website can then retrieve that data stored in the 99 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: web browser later on. So let's say that you visit 100 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 1: a website and you leave it, and then later on 101 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: you go back to that website. The site could check 102 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: to see if your browser already has a cookie from 103 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: the site, and if it finds the cookie and the 104 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 1: data there indicates what you had been doing the last 105 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: time you were on the website, then the website can 106 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,679 Speaker 1: customize your experience so that you don't have to retrace 107 00:06:51,760 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: your steps. I'll give a very quick, simple example. Let's 108 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: say you go to an online store and you shop around, 109 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: and in your shopping you actually add a few things 110 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: to your online shopping cart, but you don't actually go 111 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: to the checkout process in the store. Let's say that 112 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:10,840 Speaker 1: your session has been interrupted by something you had to 113 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: shut down and go do something else, uh, that demanded 114 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: your attention, and you come back later, you come back 115 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: to your computer and you go back to this website. Well, 116 00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: the cookie in your web browser is what lets the 117 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: website know that you still have stuff in your virtual 118 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: shopping cart, so that you don't have to go through 119 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: the whole thing again, lets you pick up where you 120 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: left off. And that is a very simple example, but 121 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: it's a very powerful one because it shows how this 122 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: little tool makes using the web a seamless experience. In fact, 123 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: cookies emerged not long after the web. Did you know 124 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: the web? It only been around for literally a couple 125 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: of years, and a guy named lou Montouli created the 126 00:07:56,680 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: basic web cookie expressly for the purpose of making the 127 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: web rousing experience as seamless as possible. Because you don't 128 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: want to have a situation where you have to retrace 129 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: all your steps every time you go to a website, 130 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: whether that is logging into the site so that your 131 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: customer profile is there, or you know, having to pick 132 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: up where you left off in a search like that. 133 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: That stuff gets frustrating if you have to redo everything. 134 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: It would be kind of like if you were reading 135 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: a book and you got to, you know, a page 136 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,119 Speaker 1: twenty three, and you had to put the book down, 137 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: and when you pick the book back up again, instead 138 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 1: of having to just go to page twenty three and 139 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:36,680 Speaker 1: pick up where you left off, you actually had to 140 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: start skimming the book from page one until you got 141 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: to where you had stopped and then read it more. 142 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: That would be a very frustrating experience. No one would 143 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: read books. Arguably very few people are reading books now. 144 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of my listeners are the exception 145 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: to that, because y'all are awesome. But you get what 146 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: I'm saying. So you had different kinds of cookies. They 147 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: were aren't all one size fits sold. There are some 148 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: major major categories. For example, you had session cookies. These 149 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: exist only as long as you are visiting the site 150 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: in question, So This is just while you're on a site. 151 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,079 Speaker 1: You might be navigating page to page on a single website, 152 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,559 Speaker 1: and the cookies are tracking you and keeping your your 153 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: session active so that as you navigate to these different pages, 154 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:30,679 Speaker 1: you're still having the seamless experience. But once you leave 155 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: the site, the session expires, your browser deletes the cookie, 156 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:36,440 Speaker 1: and it doesn't you know. Next time you go to 157 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: the website, you're on a fresh slate. Essentially. Then you 158 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,760 Speaker 1: have what are called persistent cookies or sometimes they're called 159 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: tracking cookies. These cookies live perpetually within your web browser. 160 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,880 Speaker 1: They can't expire sometimes sometimes they don't have an expiration date, 161 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: and really the only way to clear them is to 162 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: go through your browser settings and to clear cookies, to 163 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: delete cookies. Uh, some of you have probably done that, 164 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: where you've gone through to do things like clear out 165 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 1: your cash and delete browsing cookies. These are cookies that 166 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: can store stuff like your overall browsing habits, and obviously 167 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,280 Speaker 1: that can become really helpful if you're hoping to learn 168 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: more about the people who visit your site, like you 169 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: can actually see what people have been clicking on on 170 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: your site. By installing and programming in the right kind 171 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: of cookies, and that can tell you a lot like 172 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: that can be really valuable information. Not not necessarily just 173 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:36,199 Speaker 1: to exploit the data of you know, people their personal information. 174 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:39,199 Speaker 1: It could be useful just from a design perspective, right, 175 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 1: Like you can look and see, oh, based on the 176 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:46,079 Speaker 1: information I'm getting from these cookies, people are gravitating towards 177 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: these buttons that are on the site, but they're ignoring 178 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: these others. So maybe I don't need to offer the 179 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: buttons that everyone's ignoring, or maybe I need to reposition 180 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: them or redesign them so that people actually use them. 181 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: So there are legitimate uses for cookies that can help 182 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: webmasters create better websites, which means people visiting those websites 183 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: have a better experience. That's a I think an overall 184 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: benign use of cookies. You can also use them to 185 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,559 Speaker 1: learn more about the people who visit your site. If 186 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: you're offering you know, products or services, you can use 187 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: that information to learn which ones are really popular, which 188 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: ones are speaking to your audience, and it might tell 189 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: you that you need to shift your business strategy in 190 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: order to maximize that effectiveness. You might also be able 191 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: to learn things about the people that don't directly relate 192 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: to your website. Maybe through the design of a cookie, 193 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 1: you learned that a lot of the people who are 194 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: visiting your site have of shared love of, say, anime, 195 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,199 Speaker 1: which could indicate that maybe you should get some anime 196 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: inspired merchandise in your store. And obviously, if you go 197 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: down that pathway where you are looking at users behaviors 198 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: that don't directly relate to your own business, this gets 199 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: pretty darn creepy, pretty darn fast, and it can really 200 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: become a privacy concern. But don't worry. When we talk 201 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: about pixel that's gonna blow all of this out of 202 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 1: the water. They go nuclear. So that's your your your 203 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:28,160 Speaker 1: typical tracking or persistent cookie. There are also things called 204 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: super cookies. Sometimes they're called zombie cookies. Uh. These are 205 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: different from web based cookies. For one thing, you can't 206 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,839 Speaker 1: delete them by clearing out your cash of cookies in 207 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: your browser. They don't live there. Super cookies typically come 208 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 1: from Internet service providers, and so these are little bits 209 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: of code that end up tracking user activity. So your 210 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: I s P knows which websites you visit and how 211 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: long you're there and where you went from that point. 212 00:12:55,920 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: They can actually track you across different browsers and different devices. 213 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: So let's say you go into incognito or private mode, 214 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,840 Speaker 1: WELLS still tracking you there too, because you're still connecting 215 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:10,439 Speaker 1: to your Internet service provider. Those little data packets are 216 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:12,920 Speaker 1: still going to your I s P and telling your 217 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,199 Speaker 1: I SP what you're up to. So you're in anonymous 218 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: or incognito mode or whatever it may be called, that's 219 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: not good enough. Your I s P still knows where 220 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: you're going. Now, you you can definitely get more protection 221 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 1: if you restrict yourself to just using encrypted connections. So 222 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 1: these are connections where the sites you visit are using 223 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: you know, HTTPS. So if you see that little padlock 224 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: icon and the padlock is closed, that indicates that you're good, 225 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: that this is an encrypted transaction. So the I s 226 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:45,960 Speaker 1: P is getting less information about what you're doing. They 227 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,360 Speaker 1: can see where you're going, but they can't really see 228 00:13:48,400 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: what you're doing. Or you could go a step further 229 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: and rely on a VPN. Now, this, as far as 230 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: I know, is not a VbN sponsored show. It may 231 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:00,199 Speaker 1: be that someday an ad for a VPN will play 232 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: against the show, but as of the time of recording, 233 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: I have no connection to any VPN. I'm not gonna 234 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:10,000 Speaker 1: mentioned any specific ones, but VPNs are good tools to 235 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:12,760 Speaker 1: have and research them, y'all. If you're gonna use one, 236 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:17,640 Speaker 1: make sure that it's a reputable VPN that preferably doesn't 237 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 1: hold on to customer information at least for any real 238 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: length of time. But if you use the VPN, then 239 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: that will end up kind of letting you bypass this 240 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: I s P issue because all the I s P 241 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: will see is that you visited the VPN, and then 242 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 1: all other traffic will go through the VPN, so the 243 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 1: I s P will be unable to see what you 244 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: are going where you're visiting. The VPN, however, can see, 245 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 1: which is why you want to really research your VPN 246 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: providers to make sure that you know they're not just 247 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: acting like an I s P and tracking everything you 248 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: do through them. All Right, That kind of gives us 249 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: a overview of what cookies are and their purpose on 250 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,840 Speaker 1: the web, and pretty early on folks got concerned about cookies, 251 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: tracking them and gathering information. It's one of the big 252 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 1: drivers for the privacy rules in the European Union, the 253 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: most recent being the g d p R rules. It's 254 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: why the EU requires websites to request permission to use cookies, 255 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: and it's supposed to make them not just get consent, 256 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: but explain why cookies are used and how they are 257 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: used and how a person's personal information could be used. 258 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: So that kind of sets the scene. We're gonna take 259 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,720 Speaker 1: a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk more 260 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: about what we used to call Facebook Pixel and how 261 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: that came to be. But first let's take this break. Okay, 262 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: we're back. We just talked about cookies. Let's talk about 263 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: the emergence and evolution of Facebook Pixel or Meta pixel. Now, 264 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:08,040 Speaker 1: that tool originally debuted back in so it's been around 265 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: for nearly a decade. At this point, well before Pixel, 266 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: Facebook had relied on other advertisising tools. So advertising has 267 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: long been the way that Facebook has generated revenue. It's 268 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: just that the strategy for how to do that through 269 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: advertising has changed. So in the olden days before two 270 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: thousand seven, we're talking about stuff like good old banner 271 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: ads with a very select group of advertisers, and that 272 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:40,320 Speaker 1: was it. So essentially everyone going to Facebook was seeing 273 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 1: the same you know, ads displayed when they would log 274 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: into their profile and there would be a banner ad 275 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: along the side or along the top of the page, 276 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: and that was it. Now, in late two thousand seven, 277 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: Facebook created an ad strategy that would let any business 278 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: purchase ads on Facebook. So now it was no longer 279 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: this select group of partners that Facebook would work with, 280 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:05,919 Speaker 1: but rather more businesses. Now. I would say that that 281 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: decision wasn't just Facebook saying we're limiting ourselves too much. 282 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: It was that Facebook was growing to a point where 283 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:15,880 Speaker 1: other businesses said, this is a valuable place to put ads. 284 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,880 Speaker 1: It's kind of like choosing to put up a billboard 285 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,360 Speaker 1: ad along a very busy highway that that's gonna get 286 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: literally more traffic than if you had that same billboard 287 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: ad put up against a rarely used back road. Right. 288 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: Facebook was starting to become a highway, so there was 289 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: a push to have advertisers, more advertisers put their ads 290 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 1: up on Facebook, and in those early days, the main 291 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: strategy was to put up an ad that would drive 292 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: Facebook users to go to the associated Businesses Facebook page. 293 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: So there were business pages that you could visit. They 294 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,639 Speaker 1: were very much like a Facebook profile, but it was 295 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,199 Speaker 1: a profile for a business, not for a person, and 296 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: then you could subscribe to that business you know, you 297 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,200 Speaker 1: could quote unquote like it is what we would say 298 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:07,200 Speaker 1: these days, and that would mean that you were essentially 299 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: granting permission to the business to publish posts that would 300 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: appear on your Facebook feed as if the business were 301 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: one of your friends. Right, This was like opening up 302 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: a door to serve up ad content to potential customers. 303 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: But while that was attractive to businesses, that was not 304 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: nearly as powerful as what would come later. Facebook executives 305 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: realized that they were sitting on a freaking gold mine. 306 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:34,679 Speaker 1: And I don't think this realization was like a sudden thing. 307 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: I think this was something that gradually came to grasp. 308 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: So they had this rapidly growing community of users who 309 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: were on Facebook a lot, and Facebook was getting a 310 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: ton of insight on what people liked and what they 311 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:51,200 Speaker 1: felt were important just by looking at what they were 312 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:55,400 Speaker 1: doing on the platform. Right, you just track the behavior 313 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: on the platform and Facebook and you start to see 314 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 1: what kind of things are ending. You know, what people like, 315 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,639 Speaker 1: what people are responding to. And so Facebook began pouring 316 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: resources into making more sophisticated ad tools that could leverage 317 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: this information, because you know, this data is valuable, but 318 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,880 Speaker 1: you have to do something with it in order to 319 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,959 Speaker 1: realize that value. Right, you don't magically just make money 320 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,719 Speaker 1: because the data is valuable, you have to put it 321 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: to work some way. Facebook's approach was to reach out 322 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: to advertising companies and say, hey, your clients want an 323 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: effective ad campaign. That means you have to make sure 324 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: that you have the right ads showing up in front 325 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: of the right people, and we can help you do 326 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: that by giving you access to tools that will help 327 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: you target ads to the people who are most likely 328 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: to act on those ads. What's more, we're making a 329 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 1: tool that can live on your clients sites, so the 330 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 1: end business and keep track of when people act on 331 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: an ad, including when someone actually makes a purchase based 332 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,679 Speaker 1: off an ad, so your clients will know that the 333 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: ads are valuable and thus your service is a valuable service, 334 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: and they'll stay your client. That was a very powerful 335 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: sales pitch to the advertising agencies because you know, it's 336 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:16,280 Speaker 1: kind of a rising tides situation for three of the 337 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: parties involved in this, Facebook ad agencies and the end 338 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: businesses that want to advertise on Facebook, and mostly we're 339 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,640 Speaker 1: gonna just look at the businesses and Facebook and kind 340 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: of remove ad agencies from the conversation because they kind 341 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:32,600 Speaker 1: of get in the way when we're talking about this, 342 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: and ultimately, while they serve a very important purpose, uh 343 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: for the for the purposes of our discussion, we can 344 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,080 Speaker 1: largely ignore them. So on one end, you have the 345 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: businesses that we're buying up ads. These companies ultimately want 346 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: more customers, right, and more sales. That's what they want. 347 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: That's the whole purpose of marketing is to bring attention 348 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 1: and then business to your business, right. So those are 349 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 1: the most important elements to them, our customers and more, 350 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,920 Speaker 1: you know, purchases, so and ads effectiveness is critically important. 351 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: And if you found out that the ad that you 352 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:12,360 Speaker 1: had purchased was not driving customers to your products or services, 353 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: you'd cut that ad and you might not work with 354 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,639 Speaker 1: that ad agency again because it's like throwing money away. 355 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: You want to make sure that the dollars you budget 356 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: for marketing are returning value, that there is a positive 357 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,680 Speaker 1: return on investment. So for the advertising companies, those companies 358 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: that service kind of a go between for businesses and 359 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:34,760 Speaker 1: the platforms where the ads will appear. Facebook's pitch was 360 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: really attractive. The platform's tools would give real time feedback 361 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:41,760 Speaker 1: on how well an ad was performing, and which audiences 362 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,479 Speaker 1: were responding best to the ad, and even insight into 363 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: the different groups and what they liked and disliked, which 364 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,119 Speaker 1: would then help advertisers when they were crafting ads in 365 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,159 Speaker 1: the first place, to make a more effective ad in 366 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,440 Speaker 1: the future. So this gave advertisers a chance to offer 367 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,640 Speaker 1: more valuable services to their clients, so again more benefit. 368 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: As for Facebook, this was like striking oil because the 369 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: company could demonstrate the effectiveness of this tool, the pixel, 370 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,199 Speaker 1: and begin to demand higher fees from advertisers because of 371 00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: the proof and how effective the strategy was. Facebook's revenues 372 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,440 Speaker 1: with skyrocket and considering that almost all of Facebook's revenue, 373 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: like up to ninety seven point nine according to Statista, anyway, 374 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: all of that was coming from advertising, like the tiniest 375 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 1: percentage we're coming from other sources. So Facebook is a 376 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: preferred nexus for ads, and advertising strategy is critical for 377 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: company success. All right, So let's talk about what pixel 378 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,880 Speaker 1: is beyond some lines of JavaScript code and a one 379 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: by one point on a website. By the way, JavaScript 380 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: just benefits to mention this really quickly. JavaScript is a 381 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 1: web focused programming language that's in plain text. It essentially 382 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: determines web page behavior, so you can use JavaScript to 383 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: to uh create specific behaviors on web pages based on 384 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:12,880 Speaker 1: user interactions. JavaScript is not related to the programming language 385 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: that's called Java, which is admittedly a very confusing thing. 386 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 1: Java and JavaScript are not related at all. Java is 387 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:25,400 Speaker 1: a programming language that has to be compiled. JavaScript isn't 388 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 1: because it's a plain text programming or scripting language. Anyway, 389 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 1: no need to go into all of that now. I 390 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: just felt like it's always good to mention it because 391 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: it's something I get hung up on occasionally. I keep 392 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,920 Speaker 1: I have, in the best made the blunder of referring 393 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,159 Speaker 1: to something that was written in JavaScript as being written 394 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,760 Speaker 1: in Java, and the two cannot be. You know, they're 395 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,919 Speaker 1: not the same thing. You should not confuse the two now. Originally, 396 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: Facebook introduced a few different pixel tools and most of 397 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,760 Speaker 1: which have kind of merged into a single tool today. 398 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: So there was the website custom Audience pixel and the 399 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,640 Speaker 1: Facebook Conversion pixel, and these tools were meant to provide 400 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,360 Speaker 1: a connection. So it was acting like a link between 401 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: Facebook and the end business that was advertising on Facebook, 402 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:15,919 Speaker 1: and it was a two way communications link between the 403 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: two parties. Here's how the idea would manifest. You would 404 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,920 Speaker 1: have a website they would enter into the pixel program. 405 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: As part of that, they would insert this JavaScript code 406 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: into their web code, which would insert the pixel into 407 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: the website for the business. So now this pixel component 408 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: is an integrated component within the target business and links 409 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,120 Speaker 1: back to Facebook. So you have a user on Facebook. 410 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: Let's say you're on Facebook and you're browsing through your 411 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: Facebook feed and you come across an ad that shows 412 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,880 Speaker 1: this really cute puppy dog leash, and you know that 413 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:55,119 Speaker 1: leash is going to look amazing with your beloved puppers. 414 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,119 Speaker 1: So you click on the ad and it takes you 415 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:01,360 Speaker 1: to the corresponding businesses shopping page for the leash. Maybe 416 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:04,840 Speaker 1: you actually add the leash to your online shopping cart, 417 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: maybe you go so far as to purchase the leash. Now, 418 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 1: in the old days, Facebook would be able to tell 419 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: that you had clicked on the ad, but that would 420 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 1: be it. That's all they would know. They knew that 421 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,480 Speaker 1: you clicked on the ad and you went to the page. 422 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: What happened after that would have been a mystery. But 423 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: because this particular business had installed the pixel within its 424 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 1: web code, it can actually send data back to Facebook 425 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 1: that not only did you visit the page, it could 426 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: include everything else you did once you got to the page, 427 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: including stuff like adding the leash to your cart or 428 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: even purchasing it. Well, let's look at this same scenario, 429 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: but let's reverse things a little bit. Let's say instead 430 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,479 Speaker 1: of you seeing an ad on Facebook, you open up 431 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: your web browser and you're just shopping for a new 432 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: dog leash. You're looking for a new leash for your dog, 433 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:59,360 Speaker 1: and your search takes you to this business. And you 434 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 1: look at the listings for leashes on this business and 435 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,440 Speaker 1: you see this super cute doggie leash. Maybe you even 436 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,960 Speaker 1: click on it and add it to your online cart, 437 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:11,360 Speaker 1: but you leave the site without actually making the purchase. 438 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: You you haven't really decided to pull the trigger yet, 439 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:20,160 Speaker 1: so you exit your browsing session. But this business has 440 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: installed a meta pixel on its web page, right, So 441 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: the code in the background on this business is web 442 00:26:27,359 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 1: page notes that you've visited, and that it sees that 443 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 1: you spent time on the site, that you browsed through 444 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,959 Speaker 1: it that you visited the the page for this particular leash, 445 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,479 Speaker 1: and you know the fact that you even put that 446 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: leash in your online cart, but you didn't seal the deal, 447 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,639 Speaker 1: you didn't buy it, and through pixel it sends that 448 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 1: data to Facebook. So Facebook gets the information about your 449 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: visit to this business. Even though you didn't come to 450 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: the business from Facebook itself, you naturally arrived at the 451 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: business through your housing, through your searching. Right well, Facebook 452 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: notices that this particular data relates to you, you know, 453 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,160 Speaker 1: a Facebook user, and that means that Facebook can now 454 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,000 Speaker 1: start serving up targeted ads for this business to you 455 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,760 Speaker 1: through your Facebook feed, which it's essentially reminding you about 456 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:22,199 Speaker 1: that adorable leash you saw and probably the fact that 457 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: you could still buy it you just hopped on over 458 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: to the business. So not only can Facebook provide valuable 459 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: information about which ads on the platform are effective for 460 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: specific users, Facebook can also offer to serve up ads 461 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,919 Speaker 1: to users who have already demonstrated an interest in the business. So, 462 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: in other words, like a business, the's double value, right, 463 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,160 Speaker 1: they see value by being able to see how well 464 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: their ads are performing on Facebook, but also they can 465 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: have their ads that are in Facebook's database served up 466 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: to users who had already visited the business independently. That 467 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: is an enormous benefit. Like if the commercials on your television, 468 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:11,159 Speaker 1: know what shops you've been visiting, and can send you 469 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:15,480 Speaker 1: ads that relate to those shops. That would be transformational 470 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,119 Speaker 1: for the TV advertising business. It's also kind of something 471 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: that's being talked about in smart TV circles, but it's 472 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: already happening on the web. And another huge benefit from 473 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: Facebook to these businesses is that Facebook is analyzing user 474 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:38,240 Speaker 1: behavior across more than a billion users worldwide. Right, that's 475 00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: a huge amount of information about user activity and preferences. 476 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: So as data flows back from browser activity prompted by 477 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: these pixel links between Facebook and businesses, Facebook can analyze 478 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: the types of ads that are more effective than others. 479 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,480 Speaker 1: Which ones actually prompt people to go and visit a business, 480 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: which ones go even a step further and convince people 481 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: to purchase goods and services. This is what we call 482 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 1: a conversion in the ad biz. It converts someone from 483 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: being a browser to an actual customer. The information itself 484 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: by itself has value, as it can mean the advertising 485 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:21,280 Speaker 1: strategies can be adjusted and evolved to become more effective 486 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 1: over time. Plus, Facebook can dynamically target users who are 487 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: more likely to respond positively to a specific type of advertisement. 488 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: Now this type of data feedback loop continues to benefit 489 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: all the parties involved. Well, I mean, you could argue 490 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: that users are kind of left out of this discussion, right, 491 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: like we the individual users who go to Facebook don't 492 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,280 Speaker 1: necessarily benefit so much from this all. You could argue 493 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:53,120 Speaker 1: that with this approach, you're theoretically going to at least 494 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: encounter ads that are more relevant and interesting to you, 495 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: So you could say that that's a benefit. But otherwise, 496 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: we are of the product that's being exploited here. So 497 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,479 Speaker 1: Facebook was uncovering a really uncomfortable truth about all of us, 498 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: and that's the fact that we're not maybe as special 499 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: and unique as we like to think we are. I'm 500 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: not judging you, by the way. I'm sure that you, 501 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: the person listening to this, you are an amazing person. 502 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: You've got quirks and you've got traits, You've got all 503 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: these things that make you you, and you're the only 504 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: you out there. But the truth of the matter is 505 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,520 Speaker 1: that when you start to accumulate data about more than 506 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: a billion users, you're bound to start seeing some patterns emerge, 507 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: and those patterns create what Facebook calls look alike audiences, 508 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,960 Speaker 1: meaning that Facebook could identify populations of users who are 509 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: most likely to respond to specific products or specific messaging, 510 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 1: because what they would do is they would say, this 511 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: person here has responded positively to an AD, whether that's 512 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: by clicking on it or actually going and becoming a conversion. Right, 513 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,480 Speaker 1: they can say that person marks a positive experience for 514 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: that AD. We have analyzed that person's behavior, and we 515 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:11,280 Speaker 1: have identified all these other people who share similar qualities 516 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: to that in this one particular arena, this very niche case. 517 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,840 Speaker 1: And by serving up the AD to that audience of 518 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:24,520 Speaker 1: people who have these similar traits, we have a higher 519 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:30,800 Speaker 1: likelihood of that AD having more positive responses. So that 520 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:33,720 Speaker 1: means that you could be more of a you could 521 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: give more of a guarantee to your businesses that the 522 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:37,880 Speaker 1: right AD is going to go to the right people 523 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: at the right time. And Facebook transformed online advertising, or 524 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: at least it kicked it up a big old notch, 525 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,640 Speaker 1: because there are other companies that are doing very similar things, 526 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 1: like Google is another example. All Right, we're gonna take 527 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: another break. When we come back, I'm going to talk 528 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: about another thing that was happening at the same time 529 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: as the pixel debuting and how that became another important 530 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 1: element with Facebook's advertising strategy. But first this break. Before 531 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: the break, I alluded to the fact that something else 532 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: was going on around the same time that the pixel 533 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: was debuting, and that was the mobile revolution. By that, 534 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: I mean that by two thousand thirteen, the smartphone was 535 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: firmly established as a popular device, and more people were 536 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: using smartphones to interact with the web. That was transforming 537 00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: the web itself. You want to talk about disruption, smartphones 538 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:44,960 Speaker 1: disrupted the web. Web page administrators were scrambling to optimize 539 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: their sites for the mobile experience. If your audience has 540 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: turned to mobile devices in order to access the web, 541 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,840 Speaker 1: it only makes sense to cater to that audience, or 542 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 1: else you risk losing it. I saw that firsthand over 543 00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:58,800 Speaker 1: at How Stuff Works as we tried to figure out 544 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:01,880 Speaker 1: the best way to remain elevant while still writing heavily 545 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:06,400 Speaker 1: researched articles. This was an uncertain time. In general. It 546 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,840 Speaker 1: was filled with experimentation across the web, as content creators 547 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,400 Speaker 1: were testing out different approaches, from creating more short form 548 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:17,120 Speaker 1: content designed to be consumed in little bites, to an 549 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,720 Speaker 1: over reliance on video content. In fact, we could do 550 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: a whole episode on the mistakes that various sites and 551 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 1: businesses made in an effort to stay relevant or to 552 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: capture attention during this transition to the mobile web. Everything 553 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: from Whimby to entire newsrooms getting gutted in favor of 554 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: small and frankly criminally overworked teams of video producers. Full 555 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: of that springs to mind, But the reason I bring 556 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 1: it up here is that Facebook was able to unify 557 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:52,560 Speaker 1: the desktop and mobile experience when it comes to add customers. 558 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: Because these sites, because they were connected to Facebook through pixels, 559 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:02,280 Speaker 1: and because users were connected to their Facebook accounts across 560 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:08,040 Speaker 1: multiple platforms like computers and smartphones, Facebook and its advertisers 561 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 1: could track users even when those users were switching from 562 00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: one device to another. Because of this underlying connection to Facebook, 563 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,000 Speaker 1: both the businesses had it and the users had it. 564 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,799 Speaker 1: So here's another simple but very effective example. Let's say 565 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,880 Speaker 1: I'm on my phone on my Facebook app and I 566 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:27,919 Speaker 1: see that ad for a dog leash, and I tap 567 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,719 Speaker 1: on the ad using my phone and I look at 568 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: the leash more closely. But let's say I don't do 569 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,799 Speaker 1: anything at the time other than that, and then later 570 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: on I'm on my laptop and I'm working away and 571 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,120 Speaker 1: Facebook knows that I clicked on that ad in the 572 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,840 Speaker 1: mobile version, and that furthermore, it knows because of pixel 573 00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,040 Speaker 1: that I didn't go any further than just looking at 574 00:34:49,040 --> 00:34:52,520 Speaker 1: the leash. Maybe I've just forgotten about it, right. So 575 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:54,680 Speaker 1: let's say I'm on my laptop and I go to 576 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: check my Facebook profile and I encounter the ad on 577 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: my lad top profile, not my mobile one, or maybe 578 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,080 Speaker 1: a different ad, but it still features that leash, and 579 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 1: that reminds me of that thing I was interested in 580 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,480 Speaker 1: but didn't actually purchase, and now maybe I will purchase it. 581 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: My experience has tracked across devices from smartphones to laptop, 582 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: and it can go the other way as well. So again, 583 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: like maybe I'm on my phone and I'm browsing this 584 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,279 Speaker 1: shop and I see this leash, and then later I'm 585 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:28,240 Speaker 1: on my laptop and I go to my Facebook profile 586 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,879 Speaker 1: and there's the ad for the leash. So let's say 587 00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:32,880 Speaker 1: you really want to deck out your home for Halloween. 588 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:35,000 Speaker 1: This is another great example because it's something that I 589 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:40,320 Speaker 1: can relate to because I like Halloween, My partner loves Halloween. 590 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:46,200 Speaker 1: We have friends who obsess over Halloween, and so we 591 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: frequently are trying to come up with fun ways to 592 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:53,400 Speaker 1: decorate for Halloween, and so we will search for Halloween 593 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:57,480 Speaker 1: decorations and other content that relates to Halloween. Now, Facebook 594 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: doesn't know what I'm searching for on Google, right, It 595 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:05,280 Speaker 1: can't see the things that I'm searching for. However, because 596 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,719 Speaker 1: at least some of the sites I visit happen to 597 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:12,480 Speaker 1: have pixel incorporated into them. There's this invisible Facebook presence there. 598 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:16,319 Speaker 1: I don't I don't, no, automatically it's there because I 599 00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 1: can't see it, right, this little transparent pixel. I don't 600 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: know that it's there, but it is, and that pixel 601 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: cookie is collecting information about my visit and sends that 602 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 1: to Facebook. So then the next time I popped into Facebook, 603 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:30,920 Speaker 1: I would see an awful lot of Halloween themed ads 604 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:35,160 Speaker 1: popping up in my feed. And you know, maybe I 605 00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,520 Speaker 1: would assume that part of the reason for that is 606 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,520 Speaker 1: just because we're approaching the holiday. I mean, I don't 607 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 1: know when you start seeing Halloween ads, but August is 608 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,720 Speaker 1: become a pretty common for me, sometimes even in July, 609 00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 1: and so everyone is probably seeing at least some uptick 610 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,239 Speaker 1: in Halloween content. So you could say, all right, well, 611 00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:58,240 Speaker 1: this is just because it's seasonal, But really the reason 612 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,719 Speaker 1: is because Facebook knows what I've been looking at. It 613 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:02,719 Speaker 1: knows what sites have been going to and what I've 614 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:06,799 Speaker 1: been browsing, and so Facebook has catered the ads that 615 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:09,719 Speaker 1: I see to be more likely to appeal to me 616 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:12,759 Speaker 1: and to get me to act on those ads. And 617 00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 1: this is dynamic obviously, so I'm not suggesting that from 618 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,560 Speaker 1: this moment forward, I will only get Halloween content. Instead, 619 00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:21,960 Speaker 1: I would be likely to see stuff relating to whatever 620 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,600 Speaker 1: it is I've been browsing around that time. This is 621 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:28,880 Speaker 1: why you sometimes get that weird feeling that Facebook is 622 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 1: spying on you. Like if you've been independently shopping for 623 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:36,080 Speaker 1: shoes online and then you notice that when you go 624 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 1: to Facebook all your ads are relating to shoes, you 625 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: might think Facebook's peeping on you, and it is kind 626 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,239 Speaker 1: of And the reason for that is because the sites 627 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: you've been shopping on have pixel incorporated into them. So 628 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:52,640 Speaker 1: Facebook knows what you're shopping for because of these behind 629 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:56,000 Speaker 1: the scenes agreements with these stores, and it's more likely 630 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:59,879 Speaker 1: to happen as you visit online shops. But even other 631 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,759 Speaker 1: types of sites can have pixel installed within them. So 632 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:06,400 Speaker 1: while we mostly are thinking about like online stores or 633 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:10,479 Speaker 1: companies that offer a specific service. You can sometimes find 634 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:15,480 Speaker 1: Pixel installed on things that you wouldn't immediately associate with commerce. 635 00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:18,840 Speaker 1: So this means that if your job is to, I 636 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:21,560 Speaker 1: don't know, research various stuff online in order to make 637 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,400 Speaker 1: a podcast, your Facebook feed ads might reflect that and 638 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:28,000 Speaker 1: show you lots of ads that you're not actually interested in, 639 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:32,360 Speaker 1: but somehow relate back to whatever it was you were researching. Uh. 640 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,760 Speaker 1: I mean, I guess that I actually haven't visited Facebook 641 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:36,600 Speaker 1: in a really long time, so I can't say that 642 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,839 Speaker 1: for sure from a first person perspective, but it is 643 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:44,280 Speaker 1: the sort of thing that I noticed occasionally. So again, 644 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,400 Speaker 1: the pixel tool works in both directions. It's like installing 645 00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:52,560 Speaker 1: a tiny little spy in every store, and it's well 646 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:55,719 Speaker 1: every store that opts to work with Facebook in this way. 647 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:57,959 Speaker 1: So the stores want the spy there because the spy 648 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:01,200 Speaker 1: knows which Facebook users have visited the store, it can 649 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:04,800 Speaker 1: reinforce the store's presence by feeding ads for the store 650 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,680 Speaker 1: to those users whenever they're on Facebook. Facebook wants the 651 00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:11,240 Speaker 1: spy there because it helps the platform make its tools 652 00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:14,319 Speaker 1: more effective, and if they're more effective, then they are 653 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: more valuable to customers, which means Facebook can charge more 654 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: money for them. Now, I know it sounds like I'm 655 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,160 Speaker 1: saying the same thing over and over, but I really 656 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: wanted to drive all this home to explain how this 657 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 1: system works and how your information factors into it. Now, 658 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,360 Speaker 1: when a business chooses to use Pixel, they actually have 659 00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: options when it comes to the types of information it 660 00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:39,880 Speaker 1: will share with Facebook and how Facebook should treat ads 661 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:44,480 Speaker 1: for the business. For example, the lookalike audience tool is 662 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,279 Speaker 1: an option you can choose. You don't have to use it. 663 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:51,560 Speaker 1: So with a lookalike audience tool, Facebook will pull information 664 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,840 Speaker 1: from the business's website. It will look from matches and 665 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:59,040 Speaker 1: Facebook's profiles for users who have visited that business, and 666 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,520 Speaker 1: then search for other our profiles that shows similarity with 667 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:05,640 Speaker 1: the users who have actively visited the business and serve 668 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: them the ad in order to increase the scope the 669 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 1: reach of this business. This brings us to no Vent. 670 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:16,680 Speaker 1: So that was the the health care business I was 671 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,439 Speaker 1: talking about the top of this show. No Vent has 672 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,879 Speaker 1: this web based portal tool called my Chart. In May 673 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: of Novent pushed out a marketing campaign on Facebook to 674 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,719 Speaker 1: raise patient awareness of my Chart, with the hopes of 675 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:34,239 Speaker 1: providing services to more patients who otherwise were isolated due 676 00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:37,520 Speaker 1: to the pandemic. So no Vent entered into the Pixel 677 00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:41,240 Speaker 1: program so that it could track the performance of the 678 00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:45,120 Speaker 1: the campaign on Facebook, presumably also tracking the performance of 679 00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:48,040 Speaker 1: the tool itself in order to get more insight onto 680 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 1: what was working in what needed to be tweaked, and 681 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,520 Speaker 1: all of that makes sense, But the problem was that 682 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,319 Speaker 1: the way no Vent had configured its Pixel agreement meant 683 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:01,360 Speaker 1: that Facebook was getting more information about patients then was intended. 684 00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:04,360 Speaker 1: No Vent issued a statement about this whole thing, and 685 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:07,560 Speaker 1: it sounds to me like the company wasn't really fully 686 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:11,240 Speaker 1: aware of the two way nature of this arrangement with Pixel. 687 00:41:11,719 --> 00:41:15,120 Speaker 1: Maybe that's an unfair assumption. I'm just drawing it based 688 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:21,360 Speaker 1: upon the statement itself. But anyway, people who visited Novent's 689 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:25,400 Speaker 1: site where Pixel was installed, or people who used related 690 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:29,759 Speaker 1: services where no Vent was ultimately offering the services but 691 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:35,080 Speaker 1: wasn't necessarily the the the entity in the forefront things 692 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:40,480 Speaker 1: like scheduling a vaccine, well, inadvertently, these people were sharing 693 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:45,840 Speaker 1: their personal information, including their activities relating to healthcare, with Facebook. 694 00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:49,359 Speaker 1: No Vent sent out alerts to affected users, including folks 695 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:53,240 Speaker 1: who weren't even aware that they were Novant customers because 696 00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 1: again they were doing stuff like scheduling a vaccination through 697 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:01,400 Speaker 1: an affiliate, but they weren't directly dealing with NOVN, or 698 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,080 Speaker 1: at least they weren't knowingly directly dealing with NOVN, and 699 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:07,480 Speaker 1: they would get these notifications. And it also included people 700 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:09,840 Speaker 1: like our who was the one who wrote to me 701 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:13,480 Speaker 1: in the first place, who don't have Facebook profiles, because again, 702 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 1: the information was sent to Facebook that related to people 703 00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:20,239 Speaker 1: who were active on this Novent page, whether they were 704 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:22,120 Speaker 1: Facebook users or not. So you didn't have to have 705 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: a profile for you to be affected. Now, even in 706 00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,920 Speaker 1: the US, where privacy laws are pretty darn pathetic, we 707 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,520 Speaker 1: still have strict standards when it comes to medical data, 708 00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:33,400 Speaker 1: and so no Vent was trying to get ahead of 709 00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:38,680 Speaker 1: this and offering services like credit monitoring to certain affected folks. Now, 710 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,160 Speaker 1: according to no Vent, the vast majority of people who 711 00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:46,279 Speaker 1: are affected by this, they didn't have information like their 712 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:50,799 Speaker 1: Social Security number or any other financial info leaked that 713 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:55,400 Speaker 1: that was not part of these uh these these transmissions, 714 00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:58,760 Speaker 1: but the statement implies that at least in a few 715 00:42:58,840 --> 00:43:03,640 Speaker 1: cases that did happen, which is a big old yikes. Now, 716 00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 1: Novents stressed that meta had shown no sign of having 717 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,960 Speaker 1: inappropriately used this information, and that while this was an 718 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:17,080 Speaker 1: improper example of sharing information like private and sensitive data, 719 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:20,280 Speaker 1: it didn't go any further than that, at least according 720 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,400 Speaker 1: to the statement. But there are some developing class action 721 00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:28,640 Speaker 1: lawsuits that are aimed at Facebook and some hospitals that 722 00:43:28,760 --> 00:43:31,960 Speaker 1: indicate that this is not always the case. It may 723 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:33,960 Speaker 1: be the case with Novent, it may be that Facebook 724 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:37,000 Speaker 1: did not act in properly with the data beyond the 725 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:40,319 Speaker 1: fact that it received data it shouldn't have. But in 726 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:45,439 Speaker 1: other cases, at least according to allegations in lawsuits, other 727 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 1: things have developed. So in early August of this year, 728 00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,080 Speaker 1: two for those listening from the future, two different proposed 729 00:43:52,080 --> 00:43:55,840 Speaker 1: class action lawsuits alleged that Facebook and certain U S 730 00:43:55,920 --> 00:44:01,319 Speaker 1: hospitals had violated patient privacy laws through pick full So. 731 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:05,359 Speaker 1: The lawsuits claim that a lot of hospitals, in fact, 732 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,520 Speaker 1: thirty three of the top one hospitals in the United 733 00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:13,360 Speaker 1: States according to the markup, had inserted meta pixel into 734 00:44:13,719 --> 00:44:18,319 Speaker 1: their hospital websites, and that at seven of those hospitals 735 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:24,400 Speaker 1: that installation happened on password protected patient portals, which is 736 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,960 Speaker 1: a lot of alliteration. And also it sounds not good 737 00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:31,320 Speaker 1: with a capital in in a capital G. And since 738 00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:35,040 Speaker 1: Pixel can track user activity such as which options a 739 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:39,680 Speaker 1: user clicks on as they navigate a patient portal where 740 00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:42,960 Speaker 1: Pixel has been installed, that means Facebook was gathering up 741 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:47,400 Speaker 1: data relating to people's health conditions. So one lawsuit alleges 742 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:51,840 Speaker 1: that a patient, after using her hospital's portal, visited her 743 00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,040 Speaker 1: Facebook profile and saw that the ads that she was 744 00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:59,440 Speaker 1: encountering in her profile all related to her medical conditions. 745 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,680 Speaker 1: Now that is a huge problem if it is true, 746 00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:09,320 Speaker 1: because not only is Facebook receiving sensitive medical information which 747 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:13,480 Speaker 1: it already should not be doing, it is then acting 748 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:17,319 Speaker 1: on the information in order to profit from it, which 749 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:20,279 Speaker 1: it absolutely shouldn't be doing. That's a big old you 750 00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:24,640 Speaker 1: and raises tons of ethical concerns. Now, when it comes 751 00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:28,399 Speaker 1: to placing blame for this, you can point fingers both 752 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:33,040 Speaker 1: at Facebook slash Meta and at the hospitals which the 753 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:37,000 Speaker 1: lawsuits are doing. Meta says that it's really the responsibility 754 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:40,160 Speaker 1: of Pixel customers to ensure that they have the right 755 00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:44,320 Speaker 1: to share the information that they're going to send to Meta. 756 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:48,080 Speaker 1: That Meta is not responsible for the info that a 757 00:45:48,239 --> 00:45:52,600 Speaker 1: endpoint shares with them because they're they're not in control 758 00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:54,719 Speaker 1: of that. That's the collection point, and it should be 759 00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:59,040 Speaker 1: at the collection point where the end business makes certain 760 00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:02,960 Speaker 1: it's only electing the information it is legally allowed to 761 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:06,400 Speaker 1: share with Meta, which kind of makes sense, right, And 762 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:10,000 Speaker 1: then Meta also says that it actively filters out sensitive 763 00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:14,760 Speaker 1: health data. Now, the lawsuit says that this is mostly 764 00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:17,480 Speaker 1: posturing on Meta's part, and that Meta has failed to 765 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:21,680 Speaker 1: enforce its own policies, and that even allowing Pixel to 766 00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:25,880 Speaker 1: be on healthcare websites, even for for Meta to market 767 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:30,760 Speaker 1: Pixel to healthcare companies, shows that Meta is not taking 768 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:35,040 Speaker 1: a responsible and in this case, legal stance when it 769 00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:38,960 Speaker 1: comes to sensitive health data. The lawsuit also names the 770 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,719 Speaker 1: hospitals as defendants, which I add here because I think 771 00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:44,600 Speaker 1: it's only fair that we not let hospitals off the hook. 772 00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:48,280 Speaker 1: It's not like the hospitals were forced to use Pixel, 773 00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:50,960 Speaker 1: and I think you can make a very strong argument 774 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:55,040 Speaker 1: that the hospitals have the obligation to research Pixel thoroughly 775 00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:58,040 Speaker 1: and to ensure that their use of the tool would 776 00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:02,080 Speaker 1: not compromise patient data, and clearly that did not happen. 777 00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:06,360 Speaker 1: Assuming that the allegations and these proposed lawsuits are accurate, 778 00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,640 Speaker 1: of course, if it turns out these allegations are baseless, 779 00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:13,080 Speaker 1: then maybe the hospitals did their due diligence and that's great, 780 00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:16,640 Speaker 1: but according to these lawsuits, that did not happen. Alright. 781 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:20,000 Speaker 1: So let's say your Facebook user and you do not 782 00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:23,680 Speaker 1: want those personalized ads popping up whenever you visit Facebook 783 00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:26,440 Speaker 1: because you think it's creepy. Well, you can actually choose 784 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:30,520 Speaker 1: to change your off Facebook activity in your user settings. 785 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:34,120 Speaker 1: You can go into your user settings, find off Facebook activity, 786 00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:37,479 Speaker 1: and you can turn those targeted ads off. So doing 787 00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:39,560 Speaker 1: that means that Facebook is no longer going to serve 788 00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:43,359 Speaker 1: you ads based upon your browsing behaviors, which is great, right, 789 00:47:43,920 --> 00:47:47,319 Speaker 1: except it's not totally great because Facebook is still completely 790 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,640 Speaker 1: tracking you. The tracking is still happening, you're just not 791 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:53,040 Speaker 1: seeing the ads based off of it. So it's not 792 00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:56,440 Speaker 1: gonna serve you up ads based on the information it's tracking. 793 00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:00,400 Speaker 1: But the proliferation of meta pixel across the web means 794 00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:03,840 Speaker 1: that frequently your browsing behavior is just being logged and 795 00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:05,920 Speaker 1: sent to Facebook anyway, and so it's building up a 796 00:48:05,960 --> 00:48:09,120 Speaker 1: profile on you, even if it can't act directly on 797 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:12,200 Speaker 1: that within the Facebook experience. So if you have a 798 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:15,880 Speaker 1: Facebook account, and if you're not browsing in incognito mode 799 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:19,319 Speaker 1: and maybe using a VPN, chances are Facebook is able 800 00:48:19,360 --> 00:48:23,040 Speaker 1: to link your behavior to you the person. Now, if 801 00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:26,160 Speaker 1: you are browsing in incognito and through a VPN, Facebook 802 00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:28,319 Speaker 1: is probably not going to figure out it's you. The 803 00:48:28,360 --> 00:48:31,840 Speaker 1: company will have a data point that someone went to 804 00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,759 Speaker 1: this website and did something, but I won't know that 805 00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:37,160 Speaker 1: that someone was you. But then it's hard to do 806 00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:40,919 Speaker 1: useful stuff when you're going pure incognito and VPN. When 807 00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:44,319 Speaker 1: it comes to commerce, it gets tricky. Then. Now, you're 808 00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:46,640 Speaker 1: also going to still see ads on Facebook if you 809 00:48:46,719 --> 00:48:49,840 Speaker 1: opt out of this off Facebook tracking activity is just 810 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,480 Speaker 1: that the ads won't be targeted to you. So you 811 00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:55,960 Speaker 1: could argue that the only thing that really changes is 812 00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:59,000 Speaker 1: that you're not confronted with your browsing activities through your 813 00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:02,640 Speaker 1: ad experience on Facebook. But everything else remains the same. 814 00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:06,760 Speaker 1: All Right. That was it for Meta Slash Facebook Pixel. 815 00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:09,160 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that. If you have suggestions for 816 00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:11,439 Speaker 1: topics I should cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, 817 00:49:11,880 --> 00:49:14,440 Speaker 1: reach out to me. You can leave a voice message 818 00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:16,200 Speaker 1: on the I Heart radio app. Just go to tech 819 00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:19,200 Speaker 1: Stuff hit that little microphone icon or leave me a 820 00:49:19,239 --> 00:49:22,040 Speaker 1: tweet like our diad and the handle we use is 821 00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:26,280 Speaker 1: tech stuff h SWS and I'll talk to you again 822 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:36,680 Speaker 1: really soon. Tech Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 823 00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,759 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i 824 00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:43,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 825 00:49:43,120 --> 00:49:44,040 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.