Author: Selena Piro

Learn How to Limit What Facebook Advertisers Know About You

If you have used Facebook, you have seen an ad. There’s no getting around it, and unfortunately, there is no way to completely block ads on the platform. However, you do have some control over your ad settings, including which types of ads you see and what information of yours advertisers can access.

The methods to change your Ad Settings are slightly different based on how you access Facebook.

If you are accessing Facebook via a computer, click on your profile picture in the top right corner and then click on Settings & Privacy, and then Settings. In the app, tap on the three lines in the bottom right corner (iOS) or top right (Android), then swipe down to Settings & Privacy, and then tap on Settings.

Next, on a computer click on Ads on the menu on the left side. On the mobile app, swipe down and tap on Ad preferences. From here, the settings are in similar locations.

Screenshots showing the path of clicks to get to Ad preferences on desktop and mobile

On the Advertisers tab, you will have the option to hide ads from advertisers you have seen recently. You can also see advertisers you have hidden and advertisers whose ads you’ve clicked. On the Ad Topics tab, you can select which types of topics advertisers can use to reach you. If you click or tap on a specific category, you can choose to leave the setting as is or see less of that particular topic.

Screenshot of an ad topic with the option to see less or show no preference.

On the Ad Settings tab, you can manage whether or not you receive personalized ads. “Data about your activity from partners” allows you to choose whether Facebook shows you personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram, if you have an Instagram account. If this option is set to yes, Facebook will allow advertisers to use data from your activity on Meta products, which include Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Facebook Marketplace, and other Meta Apps. With any options with a radio yes/no button, gray signifies don’t allow and blue signifies allow.

Screenshot of the "Data about your activity from partners" page with toggles for personalized ad on Instagram and Facebook turned off.

Under “Categories used to reach you,” you can select whether you would like an advertiser to be able to target you based on the information you have provided in your profile: Employer, Job Title, Education (any schools you have listed), and Relationship Status. You may also have an “Other categories” option depending on how much personal information you have provided in your profile. Each type of profile information (e.g. employer, education) has its own yes or no option.

Screenshot of "Categories used to reach you" with toggles for employer, education, job title, and relationship status turned off.

The “Audience Based Advertising” setting allows you to see to which advertisers have accessed lists that contain certain information from your profile. For example, an advertiser may pay for a list containing everyone who is female, aged 25-35, and lives in the United States. The birth date field is required to join Facebook, and gender and location are in the basic info section of your profile. You can see which companies have used these lists.

If you click on the company name and then click on “they uploaded or used a list to reach you,” you can get the option to allow or not allow advertisers to use this particular list on Facebook to show you ads. You may also have the option to contact that particular company. If you would like that company to not be able to use that particular uploaded list to show you ads, click on don’t allow. If you have already chosen that, you will see an allow button.

Screenshot showing how to restrict a particular company from using you a list to reach you

The “Ads shown off of Facebook” setting allows you to decide whether you can be shown ads off of Facebook Company Products, such as on non-Facebook websites and apps that use Facebook advertising services.

Screenshot of "Ads shown off of Facebook" toggle off.

The “social interactions” setting lets you choose whether or not your friends can see if you have liked a certain page that is being advertised. For example, if you have liked the Hannaford Facebook page, and Hannaford runs an ad, if you allow your friends to see, there will be a message next to the page name on their feed saying that you liked that particular page.

Screenshot of the "social interactions" setting that allows or restricts friends from seeing if you have liked a page in an ad.

There are several different ways that you can limit what information advertisers can find out about from your Facebook profile. It’s a good idea to access your ad settings to see what information is being shown to advertisers. With any social media, it’s always a good idea not to share too much information. You may think it’s just your friends and family who are seeing it, but often times that same information is being accessed by advertisers.

Have you had the chance to go over your ad settings on Facebook? Let us know in the comments.

Learn More About Your Unique Family History with Ancestry

Ancestry is one of the big names in genealogy research. Their database contains thousands of records including US Census Records, Birth, Marriage, Death, Military records, and more. During the pandemic, Ancestry offered home access to its library database with your library card. Now that most libraries are open to the public, ProQuest has once again required Ancestry Library to be accessed within the library by either using a library computer or with a device connected to the library’s WiFi network.

You can search for a specific person by entering the first and last name and other optional information such as places they have lived or the year they were born. You can also add optional information such a particular family member, occupation, and their race/nationality.

In addition to searching, you can also explore record collections of Census and Voter Lists, Birth, Marriage and Death Records, and Military Records.

If you would like to learn more about how to Ancestry Library Edition, check out our YouTube video tutorial:

Have you tried out the Ancestry Library edition? Let us know in the comments.

Meet Craiyon, the Powerful AI Who Creates Art on Demand

You may have heard of the many things that AI (artificial intelligence) can do. There are chat bots that can assist you with various tasks, and you may be familiar with Alexa and Siri, digital assistants who can help you with various tasks like giving directions and setting timers. We have even previously written about Rytr, a tool that can help you with your writing. Now there is a new type of AI that can create art by simply entering a keyword or two.

Craiyon, which was formerly known as Dall-E Mini, uses AI model drawing images to create images based on any prompt.

You can use a broad term. This is what it came up with when I entered “mountain hotel”:

Screenshot showing a Craiyon prompt field with "mountain hotel" entered and nine image options below.

Or you can get a little more specific. This is what it came up with when I entered “cat reading on the beach”:

Screenshot of a Craiyon prompt field with "cat reading on the beach" filled in with nine image options.

There are all sorts of fun things you can try, such as famous people, places, or food. Have you tried Craiyon? Let us know in the comments.

Looking for Your Next Read? Check out NoveList!

It’s happened to all readers at some point. You’ve finished a book you loved, but you aren’t sure what to read next. NoveList can help. NoveList is a unique database that allows you to search or browse various criteria to find your next read.

NoveList can be accessed at home by East Greenbush and Schodack residents, and it can be accessed by anyone at the library by connecting to our network.

If you like a particular title, NoveList allows you to search for that title. You’ll get information about the book, including its genre, tone, and writing style. To the column on right, you can see similar titles.

Screenshot of a book's summary page in NoveList

From the NoveList homepage, you can access their appeal mixer if you’re in the mood for reading books written in a particular style.

Screenshot of appeal mixer, which states "I'm in the mood for books that are..." with suggested combinations of factors books that align to the combination.

You can mix and match, and limit by age. If the pre-made appeal factors aren’t your style, you can make your own combo with the appeal mixer.

For an overview of all the neat ways you can use NoveList to find your next read, check out our YouTube video:

Have you used NoveList? Let us know in the comments!

Is It a Social Media Game or a Clever Hack?

If you’ve been on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, chances are you’ve seen them. Posts that appear to be innocuous enough, asking for a combination of personal info to find out things like what your Bridgerton name would be by asking you to name your grandmother’s name combined with the street you grew up on.

The problem with these types of posts is that they are not innocuous – far from it. These attempts by various entities to gather personal information are a type of social engineering.

What is Social Engineering?

According to this helpful article on Imperva, social engineering is “the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information.”

The types of posts you may see on social media sites will ask all sorts of questions related to personal information that is often the same type of information used in security questions used to retrieve a forgotten password. A single question may appear innocent enough, but the way these scammers often operate is to gather information through multiple questions. For example, to gain access to someone’s account by answering security questions, you will often need to enter your birth date. These social engineering posts will be clever in the way they ask for information. Instead of, “post your birthday!” they will instead ask things that combine your birth month or number combined with other information. If you were to comment that you were born in January, they would have one piece of information. Another post may ask when you graduated high school, or what age you were in a certain year. When pieced together, the perpetrators have your birth date.

Type "Halloween" and the year you were born in the GIF bar. That's your costume this year.
Example of a social engineering meme

Answering security questions can be used to retrieve a forgotten password or as an extra security measure to log in to some websites. Some common security questions ask about the street you grew up on, your favorite pet’s name, or the name of your firstborn child. To get this information, the perpetrators will word it in a different way such as, “what’s the name of the child who made you a mom?” A question that sounds innocent, but has malicious intent.

What Do They Do With the Information?

There are several ways the perpetrators can use your information. The easiest way is security questions. Once they have your information, they can visit your various accounts, be it Google, Yahoo, or even your bank account, and use the information to reset your password. What about the example question mentioned above about the name of the child that made you a mom? A common security question asks the name of your firstborn child. Your favorite subject in high school is another common question asked in Facebook posts that people answer without hesitation.

Besides answers to security questions, this information gives a heads up to those attempting to guess passwords. If hackers have a starting point, for instance, if your password contains the name of your childhood pet or your first born, it makes it easier to guess the rest of the password, especially if they are using hacking programs that can automate the process.

Men laughing with text "we posted a Facebook quiz with password security questions and they not only answered the questions, they shared it with their friends.

An Easy Solution

An easy way to combat this problem is to not share personal information on social media. While you may think only your friends will see the answers, once you comment on a public post, anyone on the internet can see the information you provided. Another way to avoid this problem is to not use security questions when given the choice. Instead, opt for a backup email address or a text message as a way to verify your account in the case of a forgotten password.

While the attempts to find out personal information on social media are plentiful, with due diligence, you can keep your information away from these information harvesting attempts by scrolling right past them.

Have you noticed these types of posts on social media? Let us know in the comments.