Facebook has ranked at the top of social media popularity across the world. Users are able to connect with family and friends, and see new postings. One of the frustrating aspects for users is the ads while scrolling. There are ads that appear throughout a user’s feeds, stories, or mixed into videos. Ads are typically based on your interaction within the app (i.e., things you liked, things you’re engaging in on Facebook) and online behavior. While it is not possible to eliminate ads on Facebook altogether, there are some helpful tips to help Facebook users to minimize ads for a better browsing experience. Facebook users can modify their ad preferences and hide ads they think are irrelevant.. Along with these options, tools in your web browser can also be useful to block ads.
Understanding why facebook shows ads
It’s important to understand why you are seeing ads on Facebook. Facebook’s main source of income is from ads. Advertisers pay Facebook to show ads to users. Facebook does this by looking at your activity: what pages you like, what posts you like, what websites you visit, as well as your location and interests. Based on this analysis, a user profile is created. Facebook will then use that user profile to apply ads to you that they think you would be most interested in.
Adjusting facebook ad preferences
One of the simplest methods of decreasing Facebook ads is modifying the ad preferences. There is an option available to all users where they can choose what types of advertisements they would like to be shown less frequently. You can uninstall preferences for ads, or even uninstall whole subjects, such as lifestyle, politics, or business. This will subsequently decrease the number of advertisements in your feed.
Using browser extensions to block ads
One of the simplest solutions to eliminate ads is to make use of an ad-blocking browser extension. Since the ad blocker will block ads on all of the web, once you install the ad-blocking extension, it will block tons of ads, sponsored posts, and video ads in your feed. Each ad-blocking extension is simple to install and run automatically in the background to improve your overall Facebook experience, while also decluttering your feed. Just remember to keep it updated since Facebook frequently changes its coding to defeat ad-blocking.
Clearing search and activity history
Your activity and utilization of the site also affects the ads you see. Facebook gathers and records this information to serve ads specifically according to your activity. You should clear your searches and activity history so Facebook isn’t collecting too much information on your interests.
This can be done by going to your activity log in the settings of the app and simply going through your past searches and any posts you have engaged with and deleting them. It does play a role in cutting down on the information that your activity gives Facebook to customize your ads and will ultimately lead to less targeted ads showing up on your timeline.
Using privacy settings for a safer experience
Utilizing Facebook privacy settings enables you to have access to manage the ads. Through its related privacy settings, you can set up who gets to see your profile, what aspects of personal data Facebook gathers or transfers to other businesses, and how that may be used for advertising reasons. Also, you can turn off specific features that may allow advertisers to use your information for targeted ads accordingly.
Monitoring and adjusting those privacy settings regularly, will make it simpler to get around and to stop your personal data from being shared and used for advertising and tracking of data.
Clear cookies and browser data
Cookies are tiny files that record your online habits and are typically used to serve targeted ads to you. Clearing your cookies and web history on a regular basis will remove the information stored by advertisers to use to make their ads more personalized. It can significantly lower the volume of targeted ads in your Facebook news feed.
Stay current with Facebook's changes
Facebook keeps modifying their ad and privacy policies. Every time there is a change or a new change introduced, if you know the policies, you will understand what new aspect curtails or stops activities on your account. You should check your settings once more after each significant update or launch to ensure your choices are still applicable and you are not posting personal information that you do not intend to share.
Conclusion
Advertisements on Facebook can be annoying but they don’t have to entirely take over your experience. While Facebook is fueled by advertising, the platform allows users to organize and have some control over what they see. With the changes you can make in ad preferences such as turn off personalized ads, hide content you don’t want to see and utilize browser options, you can shape a more enjoyable and customized experience.
