Yesterday we talked about a new social network, called Ello and how it is probably going to take Facebook’s place soon. Facebook is fast to fall out of grace with its users and something new is bound to take its place. Today, we learned another thing that will make many people either hate Facebook a little more or quit Facebook altogether: it seems that Facebook keeps watching us and selling our personal data to companies. It’s no news that Facebook does this, but this time, starting Monday, Facebook will implement Atlas, a new ad network that it purchased from Microsoft in 2013.

Facebook Keeps Watching Us

In 2013 Facebook paid $100 million for Atlas, a Microsoft-owned ad network that gathers personal information and uses it for targeted marketing. Have you ever noticed how as soon as you do a search on something, ads will start appearing about products related to your initial search? That’s what Atlas will be doing; to translate freely, that’s what Facebook will be doing.

Facebook promises that its users’ identities will be kept anonymous from advertisers and that only the most basic information will be revealed and sold. But much can we trust Facebook’s promises, when it is selling our information?

Atlas and Google AdWords have a lot in common. Erik Johnson, Atlas chief, revealed some information about the company in a recent statement and its people-based marketing, as opposed to using cookies:

People spend more time on more devices than ever before. This shift in consumer behavior has had a profound impact on a consumer’s path to purchase, both online and in stores. And today’s technology for ad serving and measurement – cookies – are flawed when used alone. Cookies don’t work on mobile, are becoming less accurate in demographic targeting and can’t easily or accurately measure the customer purchase funnel across browsers and devices or into the offline world.

Any thoughts on the fact that Facebook keeps watching us and selling us? Drop us a line in the comment section below.