Facebook’s Open Graph program captured user data across third-party platforms

Evidence

The invention of social media platforms in which every user move is automatically tracked was a major further step. The data benefit unleashed to social media providers such as Facebook was huge: through its Open Graph program, Facebook gained access to what users did not only on Facebook but also on every platform that users accessed via their Facebook ID—for example, Spotify. The result is what the industry, without irony, calls “people-based marketing.” — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 114

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘people-based marketing’ as the industry term for cross-platform identity-linked tracking.
• SEED: The phrase ‘without irony’ in ‘people-based marketing’ is a seed for an essay on how surveillance vocabulary gets euphemized into marketing language.
• XREF: connects to: Large social platforms function as aggregators of niche tracking services — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 542; Apps collect data beyond user control while framing collection as enhanced experience — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 517; Facebook’s Free Basics captured data from already-connected users rather than bridging the divide — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 316 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Facebook’s Free Basics captured data from already-connected users rather than bridging the divide #expands (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 316
• Facebook stores user tracking data in a separate system it refuses to expose #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1542
• Facebook’s data advantage enabled unprecedented advertiser nanotargeting #expands (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1006
• Facebook users’ personality traits can be predicted from public data without consent. #exemplifies (0.78) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 854
• Privately controlled data extraction produces social classifications that entrench inequality #expands (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 443
• Facebook data employees work continuously to influence users’ moods and behavior #expands (0.72) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 940