What Facebook’s ban of 3rd party data means for publishers

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Over the past few days, Facebook announced significant changes positioned as privacy enhancing moves. For media and publishing companies, this shift will create opportunities for those with a strong first-party data strategy.

Facebook Bans Third-Party Data & Pauses App Review

Simply put, Facebook will no longer allow third-party aggregators to match data against Facebook’s audience and then sell that behavior for targeting purposes — at least not on their platform. Facebook hasn’t (yet) stated that it will prohibit marketers from purchasing that targeting data outside of the platform.

The two methods of targeting Facebook still offers are first- and second-party data centric. Facebook will still allow a marketer to target based on the second-party data it excels at collecting (page likes, interests, etc.). Facebook will also continue to allow marketers to use their own first-party data. Using their first-party customer data, marketers can still match to the Facebook audience and execute advertising.

What Does This Mean for Media & Publishing Companies?

Facebook is clearly aligned around the value and power of its first-party data. By eliminating the impact of third-party data brokers or third-party data collectors, they squarely emphasize the one thing they can control: the data they gain from their users and how that data is activated. Media and publishing executives should therefore be asking themselves some hard questions along the same lines.

What is my first party data strategy?
Am I getting enough value from my first party data?
Am I doing anything that detracts from the value of my first party data?