Tech

Facebook testing data collection on users’ behavior

Facebook wants to know a lot more about you.

The social-networking giant is testing technology that would sharply increase the amount of data it collects about its users, Facebook analytics chief Ken Rudin said.

For example, Facebook may record how long a user’s cursor hovers over a certain part of the Web site, he told The Wall Street Journal.

Or it may collect data on whether a Facebook user’s news feed is visible at a given moment on the user’s cellphone screen.

Rudin said the collected data could be stored in a data-analytics warehouse and might be used in a wide range of ways, including more precise targeting of advertisements.

But it’s not certain that it makes sense for Facebook to collect the additional data, he said.

“I can’t promise it will roll out.

“We probably will know in a couple of months,” Rudin said of the current testing.

“Instead of a warehouse of data, you can end up with a junkyard of data,” he told the Journal.

The information that Facebook collects falls into two categories. One is demographic data — where a user lives, was born or attended school. It is the other type, the behavioral data such as a user’s “likes,” that may be greatly expanded, Rudin said.

He said the questions that could be asked are: “Did your cursor hover over that ad” and “was that news feed in a viewable area.”