Here's Why Meta and Google Know More About You Than Any Other Data Broker

Ever wondered how platforms like Meta, Google, and newer players like TikTok, Snap, and Pinterest seem to know so much about their users—both online and offline? How do they connect different digital and offline identifiers to individuals with such precision?

The answer is simple: these platforms operate the largest contributory ad networks in the world. Beyond the basic information users provide when creating profiles, these platforms are continuously enriching their data using billions of signals received from advertisers daily through Conversion APIs (CAPI) and browser pixels.

To better understand how this works, let’s look at an example:

The Journey of John’s Data Across Platforms

Meet John. He has a Facebook profile linked to the email address john.facebook@gmail.com. John prefers to keep this email separate from his personal and work emails. One day, he sees an ad on Facebook, clicks on it, and signs up for the advertiser’s newsletter using a different email: john_online@gmail.com, which he usually uses for newsletters.

The advertiser—let’s call them Brand #1—shares John’s signup data with Facebook as a Lead event via CAPI. Along with the new email, they also send the Facebook Click ID (fbclid) since John clicked on their Facebook ad. This fbclid is all Facebook needs to match the event back to John’s profile and connect it with the specific ad he clicked on.

Now, Facebook has enriched its identity graph for John. In addition to john.facebook@gmail.com, Facebook now associates john_online@gmail.com with John’s Facebook profile, further enhancing its knowledge of his online behavior.

How Offline Data Gets Linked to John’s Profile

A few days later, John visits a physical store—let’s call it Brand #2—and makes a purchase. At checkout, he signs up for the store’s email list to get a 10% discount, again using john_online@gmail.com. Brand #2 shares its in-store purchase data with Facebook via offline CAPI to track the performance of their ads and measure omni-channel conversions.

Although Brand #2 only has John’s john_online@gmail.com, Facebook’s enriched identity graph allows them to match this offline purchase back to John’s Facebook profile. Brand #2 benefits from the data that Brand #1 originally shared, helping them get a more complete picture of John’s interactions.

The Power of Scale in Data Collection

This is just one small example of what happens on a massive scale every day. Platforms like Facebook and Google receive billions of data points from advertisers, which continuously enrich their identity graphs. These platforms collect signals from various digital and offline touchpoints, giving them the ability to construct highly detailed and accurate profiles of their users.

The data shared by one advertiser not only helps that individual advertiser optimize their campaigns but also contributes to a much larger identity graph that benefits millions of other advertisers on the platform. This is why Meta and Google have built the most advanced and sophisticated contributory identity graphs in the world.

Why No Brand or Attribution Vendor or Data Broker Can Compete

The scale and precision of data collected by platforms like Meta and Google are unmatched. No individual brand, regardless of its size, can compete with the vast amount of information these platforms gather daily. Similarly, no multi-touch attribution vendor or third-party data broker comes close to the coverage and accuracy that Meta and Google achieve with their identity graphs.

This is what sets Meta and Google apart, making their identity graphs the most powerful tools in the advertising world today. Their ability to link and enrich data from multiple sources is a game-changer for advertisers, giving them the insights needed to drive performance and maximize return on investment.