Sharpened Social Insights: Facebook’s Experimental Business Recommendations

Facebook is testing a new business discovery tool that will appear under posts and ads in your News Feed. The feature will prompt you to select topics you’re interested in, and will then present you with recommended content from businesses based on your choices.

Facebook Gives More Publicity to Businesses

Facebook announced the business discovery tool in a post on theFacebook for Business blog , and notes that the feature may help users “discover and consider new businesses they might not have found on their own.”

The feature will display a series of related images beneath posts and ads from businesses that sell food, clothes, beauty products, and more. You can then click on an image that interests you, and you’ll be presented with a feed of recommended businesses.

This update is likely a reaction to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy, which forces apps to ask for permission to track users’ data. Facebook has complained that this policy will hurt small businesses that advertise on the platform, and has even gone so far as to roll outa notification that encourages iOS users to opt-in to activity tracking .

Facebook Fights Back Against Apple

The business discovery tool is yet another clever way that Facebook is bypassing Apple’s Tracking Transparency policy. By seeing what users click on, Facebook can gather the information it needs to sell ads—all without explicitly tracking users.