Social networks know quite a bit about us. And by quite a bit we mean a lot. This information is oftentimes so intimate and private there is no doubt you’d feel bad if you knew who gets their hands on it (AKA we, the advertisers, get our hands in it).
Facebook, too, has learned and understood there are categories and subjects that advertisers have no justifiable reason to know or ask about, so it recently released a policy update regarding questions that should no longer be asked on its internal forms (LG forms).
So what are the things we are not allowed to ask?
1.Information about the customer’s bank accounts – or in other words: Where does the money come from?
In the interest stage, no business (even the most related to the field of interest) is allowed to ask for customers bank account details, debts, loans, and credit rating. Keep in mind – this is the stage of getting initial information which poses no logical reason for these questions to be asked.
2. Numbers, numbers, numbers
The only number you can ask a person for is her/his phone number. Driver’s license number, ID number, army personal number, passport number – all of these are unnecessary personal details and a big no-no.
3. Medical info
It is no secret that medical information is super personal and sensitive – the logic behind this ban is no real surprise. Therefore, any information related to one’s medical history, physical illnesses, side effects, or discount on an existing medical condition are unacceptable on a Facebook form. You have been warned!
4. You can feel i(e)nsured
Facebook prevents advertisers from keeping any information related to the insurance world. Customer’s choice of insurance company is at their discretion and knowledge only. So any insurance information (past insurance, insurance company’s name, insurance plan details) – e(i)nsured not to pass.
5. For what are politics good to me now?
Facebook has set itself the goal to be a UN representative and so it encourages to eliminate everything political from its business. Political affiliation, for whom the customer voted in the last elections or in the previous ones – all irrelevant, to the advertiser and certainly to Facebook.
6. We are a unified global village!
Facebook proudly puts getting any surfer to want to sign up among its top priorities, so questions regarding our religious background, philosophical beliefs and the like are irrelevant to the initial filtering status and so – do not ask these questions.
7. We are a unified global village!
Every person’s sexual orientation is the kind of information that is personal and private, so it is uninteresting for an advertiser to know what every person’s sexual orientation is.
Therefore, questions like “what is your sexual orientation” are not to be asked in Facebook forms, and most certainly, interested parties are not to be filtered based on this criterion.
8. What is your ICQ username and password?
We intentionally went to extremes and stretched it very far, but the intent here is that in private forms, you are not to ask interested parties for their login information to applications or software that require a username and password because… well, this doesn’t really require explanations, does it?
That’s it! Now you know the 8 questions you shouldn’t ask.
Any questions?
