Off-Facebook Activity has been in the news recently. This new feature lets you see what apps and websites share information with Facebook. That data helps Facebook put tailored ads in your news feed, for better or for worse.
If you missed those news stories, then here’s how to view Off-Facebook Activity settings.
On the Facebook Website
Open the Off-Facebook Activity page by following these steps:
- At the top of the Facebook home page, click the down-arrow icon in the menu bar.
- Click Your Facebook Information on the left side of the Settings screen.
- Now click View to the right of Off-Facebook Activity.
The page shows icons of websites and apps that shared data about you with Facebook. What’s more, you can read about how Facebook collects this stuff.
Click Clear History to remove your personal stuff from the data that apps and websites send to Facebook. You can also change the feature settings by clicking Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity.
On the Facebook Mobile Site
You can open the Off-Facebook Activity screen shown above by following these steps:
- Tap the Menu icon in the lower-right corner of the screen.
- In the menu screen, tap Settings and Privacy.
- Tap Settings.
- In the Settings screen, swipe up until you see the Your Facebook Information section.
- Tap Off-Facebook Activity.
The Off-Facebook Activity page shows thumbnail icons. These icons show some of the apps and websites that shared data about you with Facebook. Tap Learn More to read about how Facebook collects this information.
Now tap Clear History to remove your personal stuff from data these apps and websites send to Facebook. You can also manage Off-Facebook Activity settings by tapping Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity.
What About Other Social Media Sites?
I use three other social media sites: Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I was curious about their ad policies, so I did some digging and here’s what I found.
You can view your ad interests from profiles you visit on Instagram and its parent, Facebook. You can’t delete any of these interests (yet), so you have to remove ads in your feed yourself. If you want more information about Instagram ads, then pay a visit to their Help Center.
LinkedIn has many ad settings. Once you open the Settings page, click the Ads tab at the top of the page. You can change settings in three areas:
- Your ad preferences.
- Data about how you use LinkedIn.
- How you receive ads from third-party apps and websites.
If you want to read more, then pop over to the LinkedIn Help website.
Twitter automatically shows you tailored ads based on your Twitter activity in your feed. Here’s how to change that on the Twitter website:
- On the home page, click More.
- Click Settings and Privacy in the menu.
- In the Settings page, click Privacy and Safety.
- Once you see the Privacy and Safety settings list, click Personalization and Data.
Now you can view and change the settings that include personalized ads and sharing data with Twitter’s partners. If you want to drill down, then go to the Twitter Help Center.
Social media networks keep updating their privacy settings, so I’ll provide you more news as it comes in. In the meantime, I hope all this helps you handle your social media ads.