Facebook ads are pretty pervasive as it is, gathering up data about you from pretty much every corner of the Internet. Now, they're about to go one step further: by mining ad-relevant data from your Oculus VR headset.
Let's get the important stuff out of the way: if you don't connect your Facebook account to your Oculus account, they won't be able to get any data to use for ads. Furthermore, Facebook promises that it won't use any environmental data that is recorded by your headset, although many are wary of the validity of this statement.
That leaves us with one burning question, though — what data will Facebook ads be using from your Oculus VR headset?
What Oculus VR Data Will Be Used for Facebook Ads?
As reported by UploadVR, the Facebook ads will use "relevant content" based on your headset activity, part of which will include the apps that you use. Basically, they would take a look at things you've experienced via the headset and use that information to target ads at you.
Here is a somewhat simplified example: suppose that you play the heck out of a first-person shooter game on your Oculus VR headset. Once Facebook has enough data, they would run ads telling you about other first-person shooters on the Oculus Store that you might like, simple as that.
Facebook provided a handy F.A.Q. for questions people may have; here is one of the more relevant questions that you may be wondering about.
Q: If I choose to log into Facebook on Oculus, what information is shared between Oculus and Facebook?
A: If you log into Facebook on Oculus, Facebook will use information related to your profile, presence, and activity on the Oculus Platform to provide and improve your product experience across the Facebook family of apps. This information is also shared to provide you with more relevant content, including ads.
Here are examples of the information shared between Oculus and Facebook when you choose to log into Facebook:
• The VR apps you use, so we can recommend new apps you haven’t tried yet
• Your Facebook friend list, so you can join your Facebook friends who are also on Oculus in VR if you choose to
• Invites and acceptances for events you create
• Information like your name and messaging metadata for chats in Oculus, so that Facebook can send those messages
• Your photos and related content like captions, likes and comments if you use the “share photos” feature to share photos from VR to your Facebook Timeline
• Information about your Oculus activity, like which apps you use, to show you ads for other VR apps you may like
So, we're not quite at the point where Facebook is going to be beaming ads for Farmville cash directly into your headset, but they're still going to be snapping up a lot of data from your headset. You can read more about these changes at UploadVR.
What do you think of Facebook ads using Oculus VR data to better target advertisements at you? Does Facebook's involvement with Oculus make you hesitant to buy their products? Let us know in the comments below!
