WEBVTT - I Never Meta Pixel That I Liked 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.440 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.120 John than Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:21.040 And how the Tech? Are you? A listener whom I 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:25.239 will refer to as are twe did in a request. 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.400 The reason I'm not giving the listener's name is that 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.600 the request has to do with a privacy breach issue, 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:36.200 and just to make sure I don't make a uncomfortable 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.040 situation even worse, I'm not going to say their name 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.080 on here, but I will say thank you are for 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:46.720 your request. Are wanted to know more about what is 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:50.600 now called meta pixel. Formally we would call it Facebook 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.840 pixel because some of ours personal data became compromised due 0:00:55.880 --> 0:01:01.360 to an issue with Novant Health which apply misconfigured a 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.920 pixel tracker, which led to the unintentional sharing of personal 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:11.440 patient information with Facebook, which included medical data. That medical 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:14.720 data would include stuff like a type of of doctor's 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:19.360 appointments someone was searching for, or which physician they selected 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.960 to see that kind of thing. It didn't auto magically 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:27.080 know everything about a patient's medical history. It was more 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:31.559 about specific activities having to do with an online tool. 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:36.160 So the pixel was meant to track the use of 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.959 this tool that no Vent had already launched but was 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:43.120 really promoting early on during the pandemic. The tool is 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.160 called my Chart. It's kind of a patient portal tool, 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.400 and Novent was trying to get more patients to be 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:52.800 aware of it and to use it to do things 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:57.400 like schedule virtual doctor visits because of course at the 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.320 time most of us were stuck at home. So the 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.640 tracking tool was really intended to give feedback to Novent 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:08.480 about how it's marketing campaign on Facebook was performing and 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:12.880 whether or not it was actually leading to more people 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.520 making use of the tools. So the intentions were good, 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:22.200 it's just it plaid out in a bad way. We'll 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.760 talk more about that later in this episode. So today 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:28.800 we're going to talk about the meta or Facebook pixel, 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:32.200 what that is, where it came from, and some of 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.480 the issues surrounding it. And while I'll mainly be talking 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.440 about Facebook in this episode when we're talking about the 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:44.560 platform used to display ads, pixel is something that also 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:49.000 plays a part in other meta platforms like Instagram. But 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.799 let's let's start off, let's talk about what a pixel 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:56.160 with a little P is because obviously meta pixel that 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:59.000 pixels and upper case P so lower case P what 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.600 is that kind of pixel? Normally, when I talk about 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:06.680 pixels in tech, i'm talking about the individual units in 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:09.760 a digital display that make up the points of light 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:14.040 that you see. When we talk about a displays resolution, 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.520 we're really talking about the number of pixels that are 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:22.079 on that display. You measure it by going horizontally so 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:27.320 across and vertically up and down the screen. So if 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.600 I were to talk about Apple's sixteen inch macbuck Pro 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:37.880 Retina display, that specific device has a resolution that shows 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:41.240 three thousand seventy two pixels across, So it's three thousand 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:46.160 seventy two pixels wide and one thousand nine twenty pixels tall. 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.240 You multiply those two numbers together and you get the 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.960 total number of pixels that display is capable of showing 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.560 at one time. For this particular device, that happens to 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:02.040 be five million, eight hundred thousand, two hut picks piles uh. 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.920 In a very general sense, the more pixels you have 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.280 in a display, the higher resolution it is. Resolution is 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.320 not the be all, end all of everything, but for 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:16.080 a very long time, resolution was like the shorthand way 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:19.480 of saying this display is better because the number is bigger. 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:24.120 That's what your mainstream customers understand. Bigger number means better tech. 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.839 It's not always true, but that is kind of like 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:32.840 the easy shorthand. Anyway, when I'm talking about pixels, usually 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:35.560 these are the sort of things I'm talking about, these 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:38.880 little points of light. Either that or I'm talking about 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:43.039 a very disappointing film that starred Adam Sandler and Peter Dinglige. 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.720 But the less said about that pixels the better in 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:49.360 my opinion, And in this case, neither of those definitions 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.360 really apply. The meta pixel, when you really get down 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:57.400 to it, isn't truly a pixel at all, or rather, 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:01.279 it's not quote unquote just of pixel. It's really a 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.279 package of code that web masters can incorporate into their 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:09.920 own web pages, so it's more like a cookie than 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.720 an actual pixel. Now, there is a pixel created in 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.680 this process, at least initially there was, and it's a 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.920 one by one pixel, So it's a single point on 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:27.240 a website, one little point. And usually it's transparent, so 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.799 you can't actually see it. You're seeing through the pixel 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.760 to the background, or it's it's coded in position so 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:36.400 that it blends right in with the background, so you 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.120 don't notice a pixel. That makes sense, because otherwise you 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:41.840 would have this tiny little point of light that was 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.080 out of sync with all the other pixels around it, 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:46.760 and that would look strange. You might even think that 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.479 there was something wrong with your display. So there is 0:05:49.640 --> 0:05:54.200 a pixel involved technically, but the point of lay itself 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:59.160 isn't really the important bit. It's the code underneath that matters, 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:04.240 all right, So the tracking pixel is more like a cookie. 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.120 But that raises the question what is a cookie? Right? 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.360 If you don't know what a cookie is a web cookie, 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:15.080 then that that's not a very satisfying explanation. So a 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:19.040 web cookie is some data from a website that your 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.159 web browser will actually store within the browser itself, and 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:26.400 the website can then retrieve that data stored in the 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.719 web browser later on. So let's say that you visit 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.560 a website and you leave it, and then later on 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:36.800 you go back to that website. The site could check 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.880 to see if your browser already has a cookie from 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:42.640 the site, and if it finds the cookie and the 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:45.599 data there indicates what you had been doing the last 0:06:45.640 --> 0:06:48.920 time you were on the website, then the website can 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.679 customize your experience so that you don't have to retrace 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.800 your steps. I'll give a very quick, simple example. Let's 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.480 say you go to an online store and you shop around, 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.599 and in your shopping you actually add a few things 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.839 to your online shopping cart, but you don't actually go 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:08.479 to the checkout process in the store. Let's say that 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.840 your session has been interrupted by something you had to 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:15.120 shut down and go do something else, uh, that demanded 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.440 your attention, and you come back later, you come back 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:22.080 to your computer and you go back to this website. Well, 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.360 the cookie in your web browser is what lets the 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.560 website know that you still have stuff in your virtual 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.360 shopping cart, so that you don't have to go through 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.720 the whole thing again, lets you pick up where you 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.320 left off. And that is a very simple example, but 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:39.440 it's a very powerful one because it shows how this 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:44.800 little tool makes using the web a seamless experience. In fact, 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:49.480 cookies emerged not long after the web. Did you know 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:51.880 the web? It only been around for literally a couple 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:56.640 of years, and a guy named lou Montouli created the 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.680 basic web cookie expressly for the purpose of making the 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:04.280 web rousing experience as seamless as possible. Because you don't 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:08.400 want to have a situation where you have to retrace 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.000 all your steps every time you go to a website, 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:14.240 whether that is logging into the site so that your 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:18.160 customer profile is there, or you know, having to pick 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.960 up where you left off in a search like that. 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:23.880 That stuff gets frustrating if you have to redo everything. 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:25.920 It would be kind of like if you were reading 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.880 a book and you got to, you know, a page 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:31.119 twenty three, and you had to put the book down, 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.160 and when you pick the book back up again, instead 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:35.240 of having to just go to page twenty three and 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:36.680 pick up where you left off, you actually had to 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.320 start skimming the book from page one until you got 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.720 to where you had stopped and then read it more. 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:45.600 That would be a very frustrating experience. No one would 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.160 read books. Arguably very few people are reading books now. 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.160 I'm sure a lot of my listeners are the exception 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.160 to that, because y'all are awesome. But you get what 0:08:54.160 --> 0:08:59.840 I'm saying. So you had different kinds of cookies. They 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.679 were aren't all one size fits sold. There are some 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:07.640 major major categories. For example, you had session cookies. These 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.560 exist only as long as you are visiting the site 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.280 in question, So This is just while you're on a site. 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:18.079 You might be navigating page to page on a single website, 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.559 and the cookies are tracking you and keeping your your 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.760 session active so that as you navigate to these different pages, 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:30.679 you're still having the seamless experience. But once you leave 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:34.360 the site, the session expires, your browser deletes the cookie, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:36.440 and it doesn't you know. Next time you go to 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.120 the website, you're on a fresh slate. Essentially. Then you 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.760 have what are called persistent cookies or sometimes they're called 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:48.880 tracking cookies. These cookies live perpetually within your web browser. 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.880 They can't expire sometimes sometimes they don't have an expiration date, 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:54.880 and really the only way to clear them is to 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:59.400 go through your browser settings and to clear cookies, to 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.480 delete cookies. Uh, some of you have probably done that, 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.040 where you've gone through to do things like clear out 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:09.160 your cash and delete browsing cookies. These are cookies that 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:13.080 can store stuff like your overall browsing habits, and obviously 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.280 that can become really helpful if you're hoping to learn 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.360 more about the people who visit your site, like you 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.520 can actually see what people have been clicking on on 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.600 your site. By installing and programming in the right kind 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.080 of cookies, and that can tell you a lot like 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.400 that can be really valuable information. Not not necessarily just 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:36.199 to exploit the data of you know, people their personal information. 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:39.199 It could be useful just from a design perspective, right, 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.080 Like you can look and see, oh, based on the 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.079 information I'm getting from these cookies, people are gravitating towards 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.360 these buttons that are on the site, but they're ignoring 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:53.120 these others. So maybe I don't need to offer the 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.120 buttons that everyone's ignoring, or maybe I need to reposition 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.200 them or redesign them so that people actually use them. 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.120 So there are legitimate uses for cookies that can help 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:08.160 webmasters create better websites, which means people visiting those websites 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.840 have a better experience. That's a I think an overall 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.800 benign use of cookies. You can also use them to 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.559 learn more about the people who visit your site. If 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.480 you're offering you know, products or services, you can use 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.880 that information to learn which ones are really popular, which 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:30.800 ones are speaking to your audience, and it might tell 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:34.880 you that you need to shift your business strategy in 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:39.280 order to maximize that effectiveness. You might also be able 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:43.560 to learn things about the people that don't directly relate 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.400 to your website. Maybe through the design of a cookie, 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.080 you learned that a lot of the people who are 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.400 visiting your site have of shared love of, say, anime, 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.199 which could indicate that maybe you should get some anime 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:59.280 inspired merchandise in your store. And obviously, if you go 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:03.280 down that pathway where you are looking at users behaviors 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:08.640 that don't directly relate to your own business, this gets 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.920 pretty darn creepy, pretty darn fast, and it can really 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.520 become a privacy concern. But don't worry. When we talk 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.120 about pixel that's gonna blow all of this out of 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:24.400 the water. They go nuclear. So that's your your your 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:28.160 typical tracking or persistent cookie. There are also things called 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:32.120 super cookies. Sometimes they're called zombie cookies. Uh. These are 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.760 different from web based cookies. For one thing, you can't 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:37.839 delete them by clearing out your cash of cookies in 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:41.240 your browser. They don't live there. Super cookies typically come 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:45.120 from Internet service providers, and so these are little bits 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:49.040 of code that end up tracking user activity. So your 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.120 I s P knows which websites you visit and how 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.120 long you're there and where you went from that point. 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:00.600 They can actually track you across different browsers and different devices. 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.720 So let's say you go into incognito or private mode, 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.840 WELLS still tracking you there too, because you're still connecting 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:10.439 to your Internet service provider. Those little data packets are 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:12.920 still going to your I s P and telling your 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.199 I SP what you're up to. So you're in anonymous 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.960 or incognito mode or whatever it may be called, that's 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:19.920 not good enough. Your I s P still knows where 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.520 you're going. Now, you you can definitely get more protection 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.839 if you restrict yourself to just using encrypted connections. So 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:29.720 these are connections where the sites you visit are using 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.880 you know, HTTPS. So if you see that little padlock 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.400 icon and the padlock is closed, that indicates that you're good, 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:43.080 that this is an encrypted transaction. So the I s 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.960 P is getting less information about what you're doing. They 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.360 can see where you're going, but they can't really see 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.360 what you're doing. Or you could go a step further 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:54.600 and rely on a VPN. Now, this, as far as 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:57.360 I know, is not a VbN sponsored show. It may 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.199 be that someday an ad for a VPN will play 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:02.640 against the show, but as of the time of recording, 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.840 I have no connection to any VPN. I'm not gonna 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.000 mentioned any specific ones, but VPNs are good tools to 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:12.760 have and research them, y'all. If you're gonna use one, 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:17.640 make sure that it's a reputable VPN that preferably doesn't 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:21.720 hold on to customer information at least for any real 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:25.000 length of time. But if you use the VPN, then 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:29.400 that will end up kind of letting you bypass this 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.560 I s P issue because all the I s P 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.080 will see is that you visited the VPN, and then 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.640 all other traffic will go through the VPN, so the 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.640 I s P will be unable to see what you 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:45.760 are going where you're visiting. The VPN, however, can see, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.920 which is why you want to really research your VPN 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.600 providers to make sure that you know they're not just 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:54.960 acting like an I s P and tracking everything you 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.440 do through them. All Right, That kind of gives us 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.800 a overview of what cookies are and their purpose on 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.840 the web, and pretty early on folks got concerned about cookies, 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.920 tracking them and gathering information. It's one of the big 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.880 drivers for the privacy rules in the European Union, the 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.680 most recent being the g d p R rules. It's 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.640 why the EU requires websites to request permission to use cookies, 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.640 and it's supposed to make them not just get consent, 0:15:23.720 --> 0:15:26.960 but explain why cookies are used and how they are 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:30.000 used and how a person's personal information could be used. 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:34.160 So that kind of sets the scene. We're gonna take 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:36.720 a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk more 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.440 about what we used to call Facebook Pixel and how 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:53.000 that came to be. But first let's take this break. Okay, 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:56.360 we're back. We just talked about cookies. Let's talk about 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:03.680 the emergence and evolution of Facebook Pixel or Meta pixel. Now, 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:08.040 that tool originally debuted back in so it's been around 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.680 for nearly a decade. At this point, well before Pixel, 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.040 Facebook had relied on other advertisising tools. So advertising has 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:21.080 long been the way that Facebook has generated revenue. It's 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:23.800 just that the strategy for how to do that through 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:28.800 advertising has changed. So in the olden days before two 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.440 thousand seven, we're talking about stuff like good old banner 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:36.320 ads with a very select group of advertisers, and that 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:40.320 was it. So essentially everyone going to Facebook was seeing 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.920 the same you know, ads displayed when they would log 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.480 into their profile and there would be a banner ad 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.360 along the side or along the top of the page, 0:16:49.360 --> 0:16:52.560 and that was it. Now, in late two thousand seven, 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.000 Facebook created an ad strategy that would let any business 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.960 purchase ads on Facebook. So now it was no longer 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.400 this select group of partners that Facebook would work with, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.919 but rather more businesses. Now. I would say that that 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.480 decision wasn't just Facebook saying we're limiting ourselves too much. 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.160 It was that Facebook was growing to a point where 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.880 other businesses said, this is a valuable place to put ads. 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.880 It's kind of like choosing to put up a billboard 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:22.360 ad along a very busy highway that that's gonna get 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.760 literally more traffic than if you had that same billboard 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:29.840 ad put up against a rarely used back road. Right. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.800 Facebook was starting to become a highway, so there was 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:38.919 a push to have advertisers, more advertisers put their ads 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.960 up on Facebook, and in those early days, the main 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.520 strategy was to put up an ad that would drive 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.680 Facebook users to go to the associated Businesses Facebook page. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.000 So there were business pages that you could visit. They 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.639 were very much like a Facebook profile, but it was 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.199 a profile for a business, not for a person, and 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:00.840 then you could subscribe to that business you know, you 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.200 could quote unquote like it is what we would say 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:07.200 these days, and that would mean that you were essentially 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:11.440 granting permission to the business to publish posts that would 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.320 appear on your Facebook feed as if the business were 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.760 one of your friends. Right, This was like opening up 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:20.280 a door to serve up ad content to potential customers. 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:24.040 But while that was attractive to businesses, that was not 0:18:24.240 --> 0:18:28.000 nearly as powerful as what would come later. Facebook executives 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.560 realized that they were sitting on a freaking gold mine. 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.679 And I don't think this realization was like a sudden thing. 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.800 I think this was something that gradually came to grasp. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.800 So they had this rapidly growing community of users who 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.879 were on Facebook a lot, and Facebook was getting a 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:48.640 ton of insight on what people liked and what they 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:51.200 felt were important just by looking at what they were 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:55.400 doing on the platform. Right, you just track the behavior 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.000 on the platform and Facebook and you start to see 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.520 what kind of things are ending. You know, what people like, 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.639 what people are responding to. And so Facebook began pouring 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.360 resources into making more sophisticated ad tools that could leverage 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.480 this information, because you know, this data is valuable, but 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:14.880 you have to do something with it in order to 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.959 realize that value. Right, you don't magically just make money 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.719 because the data is valuable, you have to put it 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:25.560 to work some way. Facebook's approach was to reach out 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:29.760 to advertising companies and say, hey, your clients want an 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.240 effective ad campaign. That means you have to make sure 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.760 that you have the right ads showing up in front 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.800 of the right people, and we can help you do 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.920 that by giving you access to tools that will help 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.560 you target ads to the people who are most likely 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:48.320 to act on those ads. What's more, we're making a 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.800 tool that can live on your clients sites, so the 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.119 end business and keep track of when people act on 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.040 an ad, including when someone actually makes a purchase based 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.679 off an ad, so your clients will know that the 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:06.040 ads are valuable and thus your service is a valuable service, 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.080 and they'll stay your client. That was a very powerful 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:12.160 sales pitch to the advertising agencies because you know, it's 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:16.280 kind of a rising tides situation for three of the 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:20.440 parties involved in this, Facebook ad agencies and the end 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:24.080 businesses that want to advertise on Facebook, and mostly we're 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.640 gonna just look at the businesses and Facebook and kind 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:30.680 of remove ad agencies from the conversation because they kind 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:32.600 of get in the way when we're talking about this, 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:37.560 and ultimately, while they serve a very important purpose, uh 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:39.840 for the for the purposes of our discussion, we can 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.080 largely ignore them. So on one end, you have the 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:47.320 businesses that we're buying up ads. These companies ultimately want 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:50.560 more customers, right, and more sales. That's what they want. 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:54.000 That's the whole purpose of marketing is to bring attention 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:58.480 and then business to your business, right. So those are 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.320 the most important elements to them, our customers and more, 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:06.920 you know, purchases, so and ads effectiveness is critically important. 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:08.720 And if you found out that the ad that you 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.360 had purchased was not driving customers to your products or services, 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:15.760 you'd cut that ad and you might not work with 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:18.639 that ad agency again because it's like throwing money away. 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:21.600 You want to make sure that the dollars you budget 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.560 for marketing are returning value, that there is a positive 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.680 return on investment. So for the advertising companies, those companies 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.280 that service kind of a go between for businesses and 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.760 the platforms where the ads will appear. Facebook's pitch was 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.200 really attractive. The platform's tools would give real time feedback 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.760 on how well an ad was performing, and which audiences 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.479 were responding best to the ad, and even insight into 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.560 the different groups and what they liked and disliked, which 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.119 would then help advertisers when they were crafting ads in 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:53.159 the first place, to make a more effective ad in 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.440 the future. So this gave advertisers a chance to offer 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.640 more valuable services to their clients, so again more benefit. 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.600 As for Facebook, this was like striking oil because the 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:08.200 company could demonstrate the effectiveness of this tool, the pixel, 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:12.199 and begin to demand higher fees from advertisers because of 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.440 the proof and how effective the strategy was. Facebook's revenues 0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:21.440 with skyrocket and considering that almost all of Facebook's revenue, 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:26.600 like up to ninety seven point nine according to Statista, anyway, 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.800 all of that was coming from advertising, like the tiniest 0:22:30.800 --> 0:22:34.080 percentage we're coming from other sources. So Facebook is a 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:38.600 preferred nexus for ads, and advertising strategy is critical for 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:42.600 company success. All right, So let's talk about what pixel 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:46.880 is beyond some lines of JavaScript code and a one 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:50.800 by one point on a website. By the way, JavaScript 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:54.119 just benefits to mention this really quickly. JavaScript is a 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:58.960 web focused programming language that's in plain text. It essentially 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:02.760 determines web page behavior, so you can use JavaScript to 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:07.600 to uh create specific behaviors on web pages based on 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:12.880 user interactions. JavaScript is not related to the programming language 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:17.240 that's called Java, which is admittedly a very confusing thing. 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:21.520 Java and JavaScript are not related at all. Java is 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:25.400 a programming language that has to be compiled. JavaScript isn't 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.119 because it's a plain text programming or scripting language. Anyway, 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:30.679 no need to go into all of that now. I 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:33.840 just felt like it's always good to mention it because 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:36.200 it's something I get hung up on occasionally. I keep 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:39.920 I have, in the best made the blunder of referring 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:42.159 to something that was written in JavaScript as being written 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:44.760 in Java, and the two cannot be. You know, they're 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:47.919 not the same thing. You should not confuse the two now. Originally, 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:52.600 Facebook introduced a few different pixel tools and most of 0:23:52.640 --> 0:23:55.760 which have kind of merged into a single tool today. 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:59.480 So there was the website custom Audience pixel and the 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:03.640 Facebook Conversion pixel, and these tools were meant to provide 0:24:03.640 --> 0:24:07.360 a connection. So it was acting like a link between 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:13.280 Facebook and the end business that was advertising on Facebook, 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:15.919 and it was a two way communications link between the 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:19.840 two parties. Here's how the idea would manifest. You would 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:22.920 have a website they would enter into the pixel program. 0:24:22.960 --> 0:24:26.119 As part of that, they would insert this JavaScript code 0:24:26.200 --> 0:24:30.320 into their web code, which would insert the pixel into 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:34.760 the website for the business. So now this pixel component 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:39.359 is an integrated component within the target business and links 0:24:39.400 --> 0:24:42.120 back to Facebook. So you have a user on Facebook. 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:45.240 Let's say you're on Facebook and you're browsing through your 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:48.639 Facebook feed and you come across an ad that shows 0:24:48.640 --> 0:24:51.880 this really cute puppy dog leash, and you know that 0:24:52.040 --> 0:24:55.119 leash is going to look amazing with your beloved puppers. 0:24:55.200 --> 0:24:57.119 So you click on the ad and it takes you 0:24:57.160 --> 0:25:01.360 to the corresponding businesses shopping page for the leash. Maybe 0:25:01.760 --> 0:25:04.840 you actually add the leash to your online shopping cart, 0:25:04.920 --> 0:25:08.280 maybe you go so far as to purchase the leash. Now, 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:11.200 in the old days, Facebook would be able to tell 0:25:11.640 --> 0:25:13.840 that you had clicked on the ad, but that would 0:25:13.840 --> 0:25:16.040 be it. That's all they would know. They knew that 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:18.480 you clicked on the ad and you went to the page. 0:25:19.520 --> 0:25:21.960 What happened after that would have been a mystery. But 0:25:22.640 --> 0:25:26.440 because this particular business had installed the pixel within its 0:25:26.480 --> 0:25:30.480 web code, it can actually send data back to Facebook 0:25:30.680 --> 0:25:33.399 that not only did you visit the page, it could 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:35.879 include everything else you did once you got to the page, 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:38.840 including stuff like adding the leash to your cart or 0:25:38.880 --> 0:25:42.639 even purchasing it. Well, let's look at this same scenario, 0:25:43.000 --> 0:25:45.960 but let's reverse things a little bit. Let's say instead 0:25:46.000 --> 0:25:49.479 of you seeing an ad on Facebook, you open up 0:25:49.480 --> 0:25:52.040 your web browser and you're just shopping for a new 0:25:52.119 --> 0:25:55.080 dog leash. You're looking for a new leash for your dog, 0:25:55.520 --> 0:25:59.360 and your search takes you to this business. And you 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:01.840 look at the listings for leashes on this business and 0:26:01.880 --> 0:26:05.440 you see this super cute doggie leash. Maybe you even 0:26:05.440 --> 0:26:07.960 click on it and add it to your online cart, 0:26:08.359 --> 0:26:11.360 but you leave the site without actually making the purchase. 0:26:11.520 --> 0:26:14.960 You you haven't really decided to pull the trigger yet, 0:26:15.040 --> 0:26:20.160 so you exit your browsing session. But this business has 0:26:20.200 --> 0:26:24.240 installed a meta pixel on its web page, right, So 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.320 the code in the background on this business is web 0:26:27.359 --> 0:26:31.560 page notes that you've visited, and that it sees that 0:26:31.680 --> 0:26:34.880 you spent time on the site, that you browsed through 0:26:34.920 --> 0:26:39.959 it that you visited the the page for this particular leash, 0:26:40.040 --> 0:26:42.479 and you know the fact that you even put that 0:26:42.600 --> 0:26:45.359 leash in your online cart, but you didn't seal the deal, 0:26:45.480 --> 0:26:48.639 you didn't buy it, and through pixel it sends that 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:52.040 data to Facebook. So Facebook gets the information about your 0:26:52.119 --> 0:26:54.800 visit to this business. Even though you didn't come to 0:26:54.880 --> 0:26:58.560 the business from Facebook itself, you naturally arrived at the 0:26:58.560 --> 0:27:03.000 business through your housing, through your searching. Right well, Facebook 0:27:03.520 --> 0:27:07.320 notices that this particular data relates to you, you know, 0:27:07.440 --> 0:27:11.160 a Facebook user, and that means that Facebook can now 0:27:11.240 --> 0:27:15.000 start serving up targeted ads for this business to you 0:27:15.160 --> 0:27:18.760 through your Facebook feed, which it's essentially reminding you about 0:27:18.800 --> 0:27:22.199 that adorable leash you saw and probably the fact that 0:27:22.240 --> 0:27:24.760 you could still buy it you just hopped on over 0:27:24.800 --> 0:27:28.800 to the business. So not only can Facebook provide valuable 0:27:28.800 --> 0:27:32.600 information about which ads on the platform are effective for 0:27:32.720 --> 0:27:36.960 specific users, Facebook can also offer to serve up ads 0:27:37.000 --> 0:27:41.919 to users who have already demonstrated an interest in the business. So, 0:27:41.960 --> 0:27:44.920 in other words, like a business, the's double value, right, 0:27:45.320 --> 0:27:48.160 they see value by being able to see how well 0:27:48.200 --> 0:27:52.680 their ads are performing on Facebook, but also they can 0:27:52.720 --> 0:27:56.760 have their ads that are in Facebook's database served up 0:27:56.760 --> 0:28:02.000 to users who had already visited the business independently. That 0:28:02.200 --> 0:28:07.320 is an enormous benefit. Like if the commercials on your television, 0:28:07.880 --> 0:28:11.159 know what shops you've been visiting, and can send you 0:28:11.280 --> 0:28:15.480 ads that relate to those shops. That would be transformational 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:19.119 for the TV advertising business. It's also kind of something 0:28:19.160 --> 0:28:21.840 that's being talked about in smart TV circles, but it's 0:28:21.880 --> 0:28:27.960 already happening on the web. And another huge benefit from 0:28:28.480 --> 0:28:32.600 Facebook to these businesses is that Facebook is analyzing user 0:28:32.640 --> 0:28:38.240 behavior across more than a billion users worldwide. Right, that's 0:28:38.320 --> 0:28:43.120 a huge amount of information about user activity and preferences. 0:28:43.160 --> 0:28:47.480 So as data flows back from browser activity prompted by 0:28:47.560 --> 0:28:52.120 these pixel links between Facebook and businesses, Facebook can analyze 0:28:52.480 --> 0:28:54.880 the types of ads that are more effective than others. 0:28:55.400 --> 0:28:59.480 Which ones actually prompt people to go and visit a business, 0:29:00.000 --> 0:29:02.440 which ones go even a step further and convince people 0:29:02.480 --> 0:29:05.320 to purchase goods and services. This is what we call 0:29:05.440 --> 0:29:09.200 a conversion in the ad biz. It converts someone from 0:29:09.200 --> 0:29:13.840 being a browser to an actual customer. The information itself 0:29:13.880 --> 0:29:17.480 by itself has value, as it can mean the advertising 0:29:17.520 --> 0:29:21.280 strategies can be adjusted and evolved to become more effective 0:29:21.320 --> 0:29:26.000 over time. Plus, Facebook can dynamically target users who are 0:29:26.080 --> 0:29:30.800 more likely to respond positively to a specific type of advertisement. 0:29:31.320 --> 0:29:36.520 Now this type of data feedback loop continues to benefit 0:29:36.760 --> 0:29:40.120 all the parties involved. Well, I mean, you could argue 0:29:40.160 --> 0:29:42.680 that users are kind of left out of this discussion, right, 0:29:42.720 --> 0:29:46.360 like we the individual users who go to Facebook don't 0:29:46.360 --> 0:29:49.280 necessarily benefit so much from this all. You could argue 0:29:49.320 --> 0:29:53.120 that with this approach, you're theoretically going to at least 0:29:53.200 --> 0:29:55.920 encounter ads that are more relevant and interesting to you, 0:29:56.600 --> 0:29:59.520 So you could say that that's a benefit. But otherwise, 0:29:59.560 --> 0:30:02.800 we are of the product that's being exploited here. So 0:30:02.960 --> 0:30:06.479 Facebook was uncovering a really uncomfortable truth about all of us, 0:30:06.520 --> 0:30:09.000 and that's the fact that we're not maybe as special 0:30:09.040 --> 0:30:12.120 and unique as we like to think we are. I'm 0:30:12.160 --> 0:30:14.400 not judging you, by the way. I'm sure that you, 0:30:14.720 --> 0:30:17.280 the person listening to this, you are an amazing person. 0:30:17.640 --> 0:30:21.120 You've got quirks and you've got traits, You've got all 0:30:21.120 --> 0:30:24.280 these things that make you you, and you're the only 0:30:24.320 --> 0:30:28.320 you out there. But the truth of the matter is 0:30:28.320 --> 0:30:31.520 that when you start to accumulate data about more than 0:30:31.560 --> 0:30:35.320 a billion users, you're bound to start seeing some patterns emerge, 0:30:35.360 --> 0:30:39.600 and those patterns create what Facebook calls look alike audiences, 0:30:40.160 --> 0:30:43.960 meaning that Facebook could identify populations of users who are 0:30:44.040 --> 0:30:47.640 most likely to respond to specific products or specific messaging, 0:30:48.080 --> 0:30:50.320 because what they would do is they would say, this 0:30:50.400 --> 0:30:54.600 person here has responded positively to an AD, whether that's 0:30:54.640 --> 0:30:58.400 by clicking on it or actually going and becoming a conversion. Right, 0:30:58.600 --> 0:31:02.480 they can say that person marks a positive experience for 0:31:02.560 --> 0:31:06.720 that AD. We have analyzed that person's behavior, and we 0:31:06.760 --> 0:31:11.280 have identified all these other people who share similar qualities 0:31:11.320 --> 0:31:16.280 to that in this one particular arena, this very niche case. 0:31:17.200 --> 0:31:20.840 And by serving up the AD to that audience of 0:31:20.880 --> 0:31:24.520 people who have these similar traits, we have a higher 0:31:24.600 --> 0:31:30.800 likelihood of that AD having more positive responses. So that 0:31:30.960 --> 0:31:33.720 means that you could be more of a you could 0:31:33.720 --> 0:31:35.960 give more of a guarantee to your businesses that the 0:31:36.040 --> 0:31:37.880 right AD is going to go to the right people 0:31:38.040 --> 0:31:43.400 at the right time. And Facebook transformed online advertising, or 0:31:43.400 --> 0:31:45.120 at least it kicked it up a big old notch, 0:31:45.160 --> 0:31:48.640 because there are other companies that are doing very similar things, 0:31:48.760 --> 0:31:52.160 like Google is another example. All Right, we're gonna take 0:31:52.160 --> 0:31:54.120 another break. When we come back, I'm going to talk 0:31:54.160 --> 0:31:56.720 about another thing that was happening at the same time 0:31:56.760 --> 0:32:02.040 as the pixel debuting and how that became another important 0:32:02.120 --> 0:32:15.960 element with Facebook's advertising strategy. But first this break. Before 0:32:15.960 --> 0:32:18.160 the break, I alluded to the fact that something else 0:32:18.200 --> 0:32:20.760 was going on around the same time that the pixel 0:32:20.840 --> 0:32:25.080 was debuting, and that was the mobile revolution. By that, 0:32:25.200 --> 0:32:28.000 I mean that by two thousand thirteen, the smartphone was 0:32:28.080 --> 0:32:31.640 firmly established as a popular device, and more people were 0:32:31.720 --> 0:32:36.160 using smartphones to interact with the web. That was transforming 0:32:36.320 --> 0:32:40.600 the web itself. You want to talk about disruption, smartphones 0:32:40.680 --> 0:32:44.960 disrupted the web. Web page administrators were scrambling to optimize 0:32:45.000 --> 0:32:48.640 their sites for the mobile experience. If your audience has 0:32:48.640 --> 0:32:51.200 turned to mobile devices in order to access the web, 0:32:51.440 --> 0:32:53.840 it only makes sense to cater to that audience, or 0:32:53.840 --> 0:32:56.800 else you risk losing it. I saw that firsthand over 0:32:56.840 --> 0:32:58.800 at How Stuff Works as we tried to figure out 0:32:58.800 --> 0:33:01.880 the best way to remain elevant while still writing heavily 0:33:01.960 --> 0:33:06.400 researched articles. This was an uncertain time. In general. It 0:33:06.480 --> 0:33:09.840 was filled with experimentation across the web, as content creators 0:33:10.080 --> 0:33:13.400 were testing out different approaches, from creating more short form 0:33:13.480 --> 0:33:17.120 content designed to be consumed in little bites, to an 0:33:17.120 --> 0:33:20.720 over reliance on video content. In fact, we could do 0:33:20.760 --> 0:33:23.880 a whole episode on the mistakes that various sites and 0:33:23.960 --> 0:33:27.040 businesses made in an effort to stay relevant or to 0:33:27.200 --> 0:33:32.360 capture attention during this transition to the mobile web. Everything 0:33:32.400 --> 0:33:36.560 from Whimby to entire newsrooms getting gutted in favor of 0:33:36.600 --> 0:33:41.680 small and frankly criminally overworked teams of video producers. Full 0:33:41.720 --> 0:33:43.840 of that springs to mind, But the reason I bring 0:33:43.880 --> 0:33:47.720 it up here is that Facebook was able to unify 0:33:47.880 --> 0:33:52.560 the desktop and mobile experience when it comes to add customers. 0:33:53.480 --> 0:33:58.320 Because these sites, because they were connected to Facebook through pixels, 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:02.280 and because users were connected to their Facebook accounts across 0:34:02.480 --> 0:34:08.040 multiple platforms like computers and smartphones, Facebook and its advertisers 0:34:08.040 --> 0:34:11.520 could track users even when those users were switching from 0:34:11.600 --> 0:34:16.560 one device to another. Because of this underlying connection to Facebook, 0:34:16.600 --> 0:34:19.000 both the businesses had it and the users had it. 0:34:19.400 --> 0:34:22.799 So here's another simple but very effective example. Let's say 0:34:22.840 --> 0:34:25.880 I'm on my phone on my Facebook app and I 0:34:25.920 --> 0:34:27.919 see that ad for a dog leash, and I tap 0:34:27.960 --> 0:34:30.719 on the ad using my phone and I look at 0:34:30.719 --> 0:34:33.040 the leash more closely. But let's say I don't do 0:34:33.120 --> 0:34:35.799 anything at the time other than that, and then later 0:34:35.880 --> 0:34:39.480 on I'm on my laptop and I'm working away and 0:34:39.600 --> 0:34:43.120 Facebook knows that I clicked on that ad in the 0:34:43.160 --> 0:34:46.840 mobile version, and that furthermore, it knows because of pixel 0:34:46.960 --> 0:34:49.040 that I didn't go any further than just looking at 0:34:49.040 --> 0:34:52.520 the leash. Maybe I've just forgotten about it, right. So 0:34:52.960 --> 0:34:54.680 let's say I'm on my laptop and I go to 0:34:54.760 --> 0:34:58.719 check my Facebook profile and I encounter the ad on 0:34:58.920 --> 0:35:03.160 my lad top profile, not my mobile one, or maybe 0:35:03.760 --> 0:35:07.080 a different ad, but it still features that leash, and 0:35:07.160 --> 0:35:09.480 that reminds me of that thing I was interested in 0:35:09.600 --> 0:35:12.480 but didn't actually purchase, and now maybe I will purchase it. 0:35:12.880 --> 0:35:16.160 My experience has tracked across devices from smartphones to laptop, 0:35:16.719 --> 0:35:19.680 and it can go the other way as well. So again, 0:35:20.080 --> 0:35:23.640 like maybe I'm on my phone and I'm browsing this 0:35:23.840 --> 0:35:26.279 shop and I see this leash, and then later I'm 0:35:26.280 --> 0:35:28.240 on my laptop and I go to my Facebook profile 0:35:28.280 --> 0:35:30.879 and there's the ad for the leash. So let's say 0:35:30.920 --> 0:35:32.880 you really want to deck out your home for Halloween. 0:35:32.880 --> 0:35:35.000 This is another great example because it's something that I 0:35:35.040 --> 0:35:40.320 can relate to because I like Halloween, My partner loves Halloween. 0:35:41.280 --> 0:35:46.200 We have friends who obsess over Halloween, and so we 0:35:46.360 --> 0:35:49.040 frequently are trying to come up with fun ways to 0:35:49.080 --> 0:35:53.400 decorate for Halloween, and so we will search for Halloween 0:35:53.400 --> 0:35:57.480 decorations and other content that relates to Halloween. Now, Facebook 0:35:58.000 --> 0:36:00.680 doesn't know what I'm searching for on Google, right, It 0:36:00.800 --> 0:36:05.280 can't see the things that I'm searching for. However, because 0:36:05.320 --> 0:36:07.719 at least some of the sites I visit happen to 0:36:07.719 --> 0:36:12.480 have pixel incorporated into them. There's this invisible Facebook presence there. 0:36:12.560 --> 0:36:16.319 I don't I don't, no, automatically it's there because I 0:36:16.360 --> 0:36:19.160 can't see it, right, this little transparent pixel. I don't 0:36:19.200 --> 0:36:22.040 know that it's there, but it is, and that pixel 0:36:22.080 --> 0:36:25.200 cookie is collecting information about my visit and sends that 0:36:25.239 --> 0:36:28.120 to Facebook. So then the next time I popped into Facebook, 0:36:28.600 --> 0:36:30.920 I would see an awful lot of Halloween themed ads 0:36:31.160 --> 0:36:35.160 popping up in my feed. And you know, maybe I 0:36:35.200 --> 0:36:37.520 would assume that part of the reason for that is 0:36:37.560 --> 0:36:41.520 just because we're approaching the holiday. I mean, I don't 0:36:41.560 --> 0:36:45.120 know when you start seeing Halloween ads, but August is 0:36:46.080 --> 0:36:49.720 become a pretty common for me, sometimes even in July, 0:36:50.280 --> 0:36:53.160 and so everyone is probably seeing at least some uptick 0:36:53.200 --> 0:36:55.239 in Halloween content. So you could say, all right, well, 0:36:55.239 --> 0:36:58.240 this is just because it's seasonal, But really the reason 0:36:58.320 --> 0:37:00.719 is because Facebook knows what I've been looking at. It 0:37:00.800 --> 0:37:02.719 knows what sites have been going to and what I've 0:37:02.719 --> 0:37:06.799 been browsing, and so Facebook has catered the ads that 0:37:06.920 --> 0:37:09.719 I see to be more likely to appeal to me 0:37:09.960 --> 0:37:12.759 and to get me to act on those ads. And 0:37:12.840 --> 0:37:15.640 this is dynamic obviously, so I'm not suggesting that from 0:37:15.680 --> 0:37:19.560 this moment forward, I will only get Halloween content. Instead, 0:37:19.600 --> 0:37:21.960 I would be likely to see stuff relating to whatever 0:37:22.000 --> 0:37:25.600 it is I've been browsing around that time. This is 0:37:25.640 --> 0:37:28.880 why you sometimes get that weird feeling that Facebook is 0:37:28.920 --> 0:37:32.640 spying on you. Like if you've been independently shopping for 0:37:32.719 --> 0:37:36.080 shoes online and then you notice that when you go 0:37:36.120 --> 0:37:39.080 to Facebook all your ads are relating to shoes, you 0:37:39.160 --> 0:37:43.120 might think Facebook's peeping on you, and it is kind 0:37:43.120 --> 0:37:45.239 of And the reason for that is because the sites 0:37:45.280 --> 0:37:48.440 you've been shopping on have pixel incorporated into them. So 0:37:48.480 --> 0:37:52.640 Facebook knows what you're shopping for because of these behind 0:37:52.640 --> 0:37:56.000 the scenes agreements with these stores, and it's more likely 0:37:56.040 --> 0:37:59.879 to happen as you visit online shops. But even other 0:38:00.000 --> 0:38:02.759 types of sites can have pixel installed within them. So 0:38:03.200 --> 0:38:06.400 while we mostly are thinking about like online stores or 0:38:06.520 --> 0:38:10.479 companies that offer a specific service. You can sometimes find 0:38:10.480 --> 0:38:15.480 Pixel installed on things that you wouldn't immediately associate with commerce. 0:38:16.200 --> 0:38:18.840 So this means that if your job is to, I 0:38:18.880 --> 0:38:21.560 don't know, research various stuff online in order to make 0:38:21.600 --> 0:38:25.400 a podcast, your Facebook feed ads might reflect that and 0:38:25.440 --> 0:38:28.000 show you lots of ads that you're not actually interested in, 0:38:28.360 --> 0:38:32.360 but somehow relate back to whatever it was you were researching. Uh. 0:38:32.400 --> 0:38:34.760 I mean, I guess that I actually haven't visited Facebook 0:38:34.760 --> 0:38:36.600 in a really long time, so I can't say that 0:38:36.640 --> 0:38:40.839 for sure from a first person perspective, but it is 0:38:40.880 --> 0:38:44.280 the sort of thing that I noticed occasionally. So again, 0:38:44.320 --> 0:38:47.400 the pixel tool works in both directions. It's like installing 0:38:47.480 --> 0:38:52.560 a tiny little spy in every store, and it's well 0:38:52.600 --> 0:38:55.719 every store that opts to work with Facebook in this way. 0:38:55.800 --> 0:38:57.959 So the stores want the spy there because the spy 0:38:58.040 --> 0:39:01.200 knows which Facebook users have visited the store, it can 0:39:01.239 --> 0:39:04.800 reinforce the store's presence by feeding ads for the store 0:39:05.280 --> 0:39:08.680 to those users whenever they're on Facebook. Facebook wants the 0:39:08.719 --> 0:39:11.240 spy there because it helps the platform make its tools 0:39:11.239 --> 0:39:14.319 more effective, and if they're more effective, then they are 0:39:14.400 --> 0:39:17.640 more valuable to customers, which means Facebook can charge more 0:39:17.640 --> 0:39:20.000 money for them. Now, I know it sounds like I'm 0:39:20.000 --> 0:39:22.160 saying the same thing over and over, but I really 0:39:22.160 --> 0:39:24.680 wanted to drive all this home to explain how this 0:39:24.760 --> 0:39:30.200 system works and how your information factors into it. Now, 0:39:30.360 --> 0:39:33.360 when a business chooses to use Pixel, they actually have 0:39:33.480 --> 0:39:36.239 options when it comes to the types of information it 0:39:36.239 --> 0:39:39.880 will share with Facebook and how Facebook should treat ads 0:39:39.960 --> 0:39:44.480 for the business. For example, the lookalike audience tool is 0:39:44.560 --> 0:39:47.279 an option you can choose. You don't have to use it. 0:39:47.760 --> 0:39:51.560 So with a lookalike audience tool, Facebook will pull information 0:39:51.600 --> 0:39:54.840 from the business's website. It will look from matches and 0:39:54.960 --> 0:39:59.040 Facebook's profiles for users who have visited that business, and 0:39:59.080 --> 0:40:02.520 then search for other our profiles that shows similarity with 0:40:02.640 --> 0:40:05.640 the users who have actively visited the business and serve 0:40:05.760 --> 0:40:09.440 them the ad in order to increase the scope the 0:40:09.880 --> 0:40:13.160 reach of this business. This brings us to no Vent. 0:40:14.160 --> 0:40:16.680 So that was the the health care business I was 0:40:16.680 --> 0:40:19.439 talking about the top of this show. No Vent has 0:40:19.560 --> 0:40:22.879 this web based portal tool called my Chart. In May 0:40:22.920 --> 0:40:27.239 of Novent pushed out a marketing campaign on Facebook to 0:40:27.480 --> 0:40:30.719 raise patient awareness of my Chart, with the hopes of 0:40:30.760 --> 0:40:34.239 providing services to more patients who otherwise were isolated due 0:40:34.239 --> 0:40:37.520 to the pandemic. So no Vent entered into the Pixel 0:40:37.560 --> 0:40:41.240 program so that it could track the performance of the 0:40:41.239 --> 0:40:45.120 the campaign on Facebook, presumably also tracking the performance of 0:40:45.120 --> 0:40:48.040 the tool itself in order to get more insight onto 0:40:48.080 --> 0:40:51.040 what was working in what needed to be tweaked, and 0:40:51.040 --> 0:40:53.520 all of that makes sense, But the problem was that 0:40:53.880 --> 0:40:57.319 the way no Vent had configured its Pixel agreement meant 0:40:57.320 --> 0:41:01.360 that Facebook was getting more information about patients then was intended. 0:41:01.800 --> 0:41:04.360 No Vent issued a statement about this whole thing, and 0:41:04.360 --> 0:41:07.560 it sounds to me like the company wasn't really fully 0:41:07.600 --> 0:41:11.240 aware of the two way nature of this arrangement with Pixel. 0:41:11.719 --> 0:41:15.120 Maybe that's an unfair assumption. I'm just drawing it based 0:41:15.200 --> 0:41:21.360 upon the statement itself. But anyway, people who visited Novent's 0:41:21.480 --> 0:41:25.400 site where Pixel was installed, or people who used related 0:41:25.640 --> 0:41:29.759 services where no Vent was ultimately offering the services but 0:41:29.960 --> 0:41:35.080 wasn't necessarily the the the entity in the forefront things 0:41:35.120 --> 0:41:40.480 like scheduling a vaccine, well, inadvertently, these people were sharing 0:41:40.480 --> 0:41:45.840 their personal information, including their activities relating to healthcare, with Facebook. 0:41:46.360 --> 0:41:49.359 No Vent sent out alerts to affected users, including folks 0:41:49.400 --> 0:41:53.240 who weren't even aware that they were Novant customers because 0:41:53.280 --> 0:41:56.480 again they were doing stuff like scheduling a vaccination through 0:41:56.560 --> 0:42:01.400 an affiliate, but they weren't directly dealing with NOVN, or 0:42:01.400 --> 0:42:04.080 at least they weren't knowingly directly dealing with NOVN, and 0:42:04.120 --> 0:42:07.480 they would get these notifications. And it also included people 0:42:07.800 --> 0:42:09.840 like our who was the one who wrote to me 0:42:09.840 --> 0:42:13.480 in the first place, who don't have Facebook profiles, because again, 0:42:13.840 --> 0:42:16.719 the information was sent to Facebook that related to people 0:42:16.760 --> 0:42:20.239 who were active on this Novent page, whether they were 0:42:20.239 --> 0:42:22.120 Facebook users or not. So you didn't have to have 0:42:22.160 --> 0:42:25.120 a profile for you to be affected. Now, even in 0:42:25.160 --> 0:42:28.920 the US, where privacy laws are pretty darn pathetic, we 0:42:29.000 --> 0:42:31.520 still have strict standards when it comes to medical data, 0:42:31.719 --> 0:42:33.400 and so no Vent was trying to get ahead of 0:42:33.400 --> 0:42:38.680 this and offering services like credit monitoring to certain affected folks. Now, 0:42:38.760 --> 0:42:42.160 according to no Vent, the vast majority of people who 0:42:42.200 --> 0:42:46.279 are affected by this, they didn't have information like their 0:42:46.320 --> 0:42:50.799 Social Security number or any other financial info leaked that 0:42:50.800 --> 0:42:55.400 that was not part of these uh these these transmissions, 0:42:55.440 --> 0:42:58.760 but the statement implies that at least in a few 0:42:58.840 --> 0:43:03.640 cases that did happen, which is a big old yikes. Now, 0:43:03.680 --> 0:43:06.560 Novents stressed that meta had shown no sign of having 0:43:06.600 --> 0:43:10.960 inappropriately used this information, and that while this was an 0:43:11.000 --> 0:43:17.080 improper example of sharing information like private and sensitive data, 0:43:17.360 --> 0:43:20.280 it didn't go any further than that, at least according 0:43:20.320 --> 0:43:23.400 to the statement. But there are some developing class action 0:43:23.480 --> 0:43:28.640 lawsuits that are aimed at Facebook and some hospitals that 0:43:28.760 --> 0:43:31.960 indicate that this is not always the case. It may 0:43:31.960 --> 0:43:33.960 be the case with Novent, it may be that Facebook 0:43:34.000 --> 0:43:37.000 did not act in properly with the data beyond the 0:43:37.000 --> 0:43:40.319 fact that it received data it shouldn't have. But in 0:43:40.440 --> 0:43:45.439 other cases, at least according to allegations in lawsuits, other 0:43:45.520 --> 0:43:48.200 things have developed. So in early August of this year, 0:43:48.920 --> 0:43:52.080 two for those listening from the future, two different proposed 0:43:52.080 --> 0:43:55.840 class action lawsuits alleged that Facebook and certain U S 0:43:55.920 --> 0:44:01.319 hospitals had violated patient privacy laws through pick full So. 0:44:01.400 --> 0:44:05.359 The lawsuits claim that a lot of hospitals, in fact, 0:44:05.400 --> 0:44:08.520 thirty three of the top one hospitals in the United 0:44:08.520 --> 0:44:13.360 States according to the markup, had inserted meta pixel into 0:44:13.719 --> 0:44:18.319 their hospital websites, and that at seven of those hospitals 0:44:18.840 --> 0:44:24.400 that installation happened on password protected patient portals, which is 0:44:24.440 --> 0:44:27.960 a lot of alliteration. And also it sounds not good 0:44:28.120 --> 0:44:31.320 with a capital in in a capital G. And since 0:44:31.360 --> 0:44:35.040 Pixel can track user activity such as which options a 0:44:35.160 --> 0:44:39.680 user clicks on as they navigate a patient portal where 0:44:39.719 --> 0:44:42.960 Pixel has been installed, that means Facebook was gathering up 0:44:43.040 --> 0:44:47.400 data relating to people's health conditions. So one lawsuit alleges 0:44:47.440 --> 0:44:51.840 that a patient, after using her hospital's portal, visited her 0:44:51.920 --> 0:44:55.040 Facebook profile and saw that the ads that she was 0:44:55.160 --> 0:44:59.440 encountering in her profile all related to her medical conditions. 0:45:00.080 --> 0:45:03.680 Now that is a huge problem if it is true, 0:45:03.719 --> 0:45:09.320 because not only is Facebook receiving sensitive medical information which 0:45:09.560 --> 0:45:13.480 it already should not be doing, it is then acting 0:45:13.920 --> 0:45:17.319 on the information in order to profit from it, which 0:45:17.360 --> 0:45:20.279 it absolutely shouldn't be doing. That's a big old you 0:45:20.600 --> 0:45:24.640 and raises tons of ethical concerns. Now, when it comes 0:45:24.680 --> 0:45:28.399 to placing blame for this, you can point fingers both 0:45:28.440 --> 0:45:33.040 at Facebook slash Meta and at the hospitals which the 0:45:33.120 --> 0:45:37.000 lawsuits are doing. Meta says that it's really the responsibility 0:45:37.000 --> 0:45:40.160 of Pixel customers to ensure that they have the right 0:45:40.600 --> 0:45:44.320 to share the information that they're going to send to Meta. 0:45:44.440 --> 0:45:48.080 That Meta is not responsible for the info that a 0:45:48.239 --> 0:45:52.600 endpoint shares with them because they're they're not in control 0:45:52.600 --> 0:45:54.719 of that. That's the collection point, and it should be 0:45:54.760 --> 0:45:59.040 at the collection point where the end business makes certain 0:45:59.080 --> 0:46:02.960 it's only electing the information it is legally allowed to 0:46:03.320 --> 0:46:06.400 share with Meta, which kind of makes sense, right, And 0:46:06.440 --> 0:46:10.000 then Meta also says that it actively filters out sensitive 0:46:10.040 --> 0:46:14.760 health data. Now, the lawsuit says that this is mostly 0:46:14.840 --> 0:46:17.480 posturing on Meta's part, and that Meta has failed to 0:46:17.600 --> 0:46:21.680 enforce its own policies, and that even allowing Pixel to 0:46:21.840 --> 0:46:25.880 be on healthcare websites, even for for Meta to market 0:46:26.000 --> 0:46:30.760 Pixel to healthcare companies, shows that Meta is not taking 0:46:30.800 --> 0:46:35.040 a responsible and in this case, legal stance when it 0:46:35.040 --> 0:46:38.960 comes to sensitive health data. The lawsuit also names the 0:46:39.000 --> 0:46:41.719 hospitals as defendants, which I add here because I think 0:46:41.760 --> 0:46:44.600 it's only fair that we not let hospitals off the hook. 0:46:45.040 --> 0:46:48.280 It's not like the hospitals were forced to use Pixel, 0:46:48.840 --> 0:46:50.960 and I think you can make a very strong argument 0:46:51.000 --> 0:46:55.040 that the hospitals have the obligation to research Pixel thoroughly 0:46:55.400 --> 0:46:58.040 and to ensure that their use of the tool would 0:46:58.080 --> 0:47:02.080 not compromise patient data, and clearly that did not happen. 0:47:02.440 --> 0:47:06.360 Assuming that the allegations and these proposed lawsuits are accurate, 0:47:06.440 --> 0:47:09.640 of course, if it turns out these allegations are baseless, 0:47:09.719 --> 0:47:13.080 then maybe the hospitals did their due diligence and that's great, 0:47:13.320 --> 0:47:16.640 but according to these lawsuits, that did not happen. Alright. 0:47:16.680 --> 0:47:20.000 So let's say your Facebook user and you do not 0:47:20.200 --> 0:47:23.680 want those personalized ads popping up whenever you visit Facebook 0:47:23.800 --> 0:47:26.440 because you think it's creepy. Well, you can actually choose 0:47:26.480 --> 0:47:30.520 to change your off Facebook activity in your user settings. 0:47:30.880 --> 0:47:34.120 You can go into your user settings, find off Facebook activity, 0:47:34.440 --> 0:47:37.479 and you can turn those targeted ads off. So doing 0:47:37.520 --> 0:47:39.560 that means that Facebook is no longer going to serve 0:47:39.600 --> 0:47:43.359 you ads based upon your browsing behaviors, which is great, right, 0:47:43.920 --> 0:47:47.319 except it's not totally great because Facebook is still completely 0:47:47.400 --> 0:47:50.640 tracking you. The tracking is still happening, you're just not 0:47:50.680 --> 0:47:53.040 seeing the ads based off of it. So it's not 0:47:53.040 --> 0:47:56.440 gonna serve you up ads based on the information it's tracking. 0:47:57.040 --> 0:48:00.400 But the proliferation of meta pixel across the web means 0:48:00.440 --> 0:48:03.840 that frequently your browsing behavior is just being logged and 0:48:03.880 --> 0:48:05.920 sent to Facebook anyway, and so it's building up a 0:48:05.960 --> 0:48:09.120 profile on you, even if it can't act directly on 0:48:09.160 --> 0:48:12.200 that within the Facebook experience. So if you have a 0:48:12.200 --> 0:48:15.880 Facebook account, and if you're not browsing in incognito mode 0:48:15.880 --> 0:48:19.319 and maybe using a VPN, chances are Facebook is able 0:48:19.360 --> 0:48:23.040 to link your behavior to you the person. Now, if 0:48:23.080 --> 0:48:26.160 you are browsing in incognito and through a VPN, Facebook 0:48:26.200 --> 0:48:28.319 is probably not going to figure out it's you. The 0:48:28.360 --> 0:48:31.840 company will have a data point that someone went to 0:48:32.000 --> 0:48:34.759 this website and did something, but I won't know that 0:48:34.760 --> 0:48:37.160 that someone was you. But then it's hard to do 0:48:37.320 --> 0:48:40.919 useful stuff when you're going pure incognito and VPN. When 0:48:40.920 --> 0:48:44.319 it comes to commerce, it gets tricky. Then. Now, you're 0:48:44.360 --> 0:48:46.640 also going to still see ads on Facebook if you 0:48:46.719 --> 0:48:49.840 opt out of this off Facebook tracking activity is just 0:48:49.960 --> 0:48:53.480 that the ads won't be targeted to you. So you 0:48:53.480 --> 0:48:55.960 could argue that the only thing that really changes is 0:48:55.960 --> 0:48:59.000 that you're not confronted with your browsing activities through your 0:48:59.040 --> 0:49:02.640 ad experience on Facebook. But everything else remains the same. 0:49:03.320 --> 0:49:06.760 All Right. That was it for Meta Slash Facebook Pixel. 0:49:06.760 --> 0:49:09.160 I hope you enjoyed that. If you have suggestions for 0:49:09.200 --> 0:49:11.439 topics I should cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, 0:49:11.880 --> 0:49:14.440 reach out to me. You can leave a voice message 0:49:14.440 --> 0:49:16.200 on the I Heart radio app. Just go to tech 0:49:16.200 --> 0:49:19.200 Stuff hit that little microphone icon or leave me a 0:49:19.239 --> 0:49:22.040 tweet like our diad and the handle we use is 0:49:22.200 --> 0:49:26.280 tech stuff h SWS and I'll talk to you again 0:49:27.400 --> 0:49:36.680 really soon. Tech Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 0:49:36.920 --> 0:49:39.759 For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the i 0:49:39.840 --> 0:49:43.080 Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 0:49:43.120 --> 0:49:44.040 your favorite shows.