One of the beauties of the Internet era is the data we can see on direct consumer behaviors. Heat maps and website analytics can allow us to see how consumers actually act.

However, unconscious behaviors, the kind that lead to actions taken on a site or app, continue to elude us. RealEye wants to change that.

The RealEye software uses “webcam eye-tracking software you are able to follow your user’s eyes and see exactly what they see while looking at your website.”

This way, you can see what people study (and don’t study) before they engage an action on a specific page.

Because this tech is tied to a webcam, you aren’t limited to testing on web pages. According to a comment from creator Adam Cellary, “you can test layouts (png/jpeg) and based on results – correct your designs!”

The company utilizes a vetted pool of testers to review sites with the software, and the data is sent back to customers for their analysis. Customers pay for frequency of access to that test group.

Now, some of you may be thinking, “that’s a lot of sensitive data on someone’s face being recorded. What about the privacy issues associated with that?”

Thankfully, the product doesn’t collect recordings.

Instead, it records behavior as data points. The point on the page where users look is logged on an x/y axis, along with time spent looking at that particular coordinate. The app also tracks scroll offset.
Because this data is set up as raw numbers, privacy is protected and the data can be easily migrated into a heat map format.

A/B testing is the most obvious application. If you want to see which product page layout leads to a better conversion rate, RealEye provides some of the most accurate data on how consumers perceive each design.

That’s because users can’t “cheat” this kind of testing.

Using the eye mapping data, you can see which page features instantly draw in your users.

Right now, the most effective testing results are found on desktop. Because mobile screens are so small, it is hard to find meaningful variety in user behavior using those results.

One would imagine this will change down the road.

You read the rules, spent time optimizing target audience, double checked all the visual elements, and your Facebook ad is finally ready to go to market. You’re expecting the latest email from Facebook to be about billing details, and instead receive the dreaded (albeit common) rejection letter.

You’re left wondering how your your content have possibly violated the Community Standards. Turns out text like “Meet other seniors” or “Depression getting you down?” violates a “personal attributes” rule.

Directly addressing the user with terms like “you” or implications about identity like age, race, and gender aren’t permitted. So you remove that, only to find your ad rejected from the ad auction once again. There are hundreds of reasons the site can reject your ad.

You can quite literally spend hours pouring over Facebook’s Advertising policies, but we have a shortcut – Jane Manchun Wong put has together the most extensive list we’ve ever seen (click to enlarge).

Understandably, illegal content is rejected. You won’t find ads for drugs or counterfeiting services. Likewise, anything even kind of sexual or potentially offensive (like someone flipping the middle finger) violates the standards. No ads for mail order brides or anything the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would regulate either.

Okay, so obviously you can’t advertise illegal things on the mainstream internet. Especially not when Facebook is asking users to respond to surveys about if the company is good for the world.

However, there’s some grey area once you move past obviously unacceptable content. QR codes, a popular ad novelty, are a reason for rejection. Likewise, if your ad features a picture of Mark Zuckerberg, it’ll get slapped down.

Feel like mentioning the spy cameras? Nope. Have an ad about lasers? Nah. Animals? DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Oddly enough, Instagram references aren’t allowed either even though Facebook owns the company.

Although Facebook is trying to uphold their values about safety, voice, and equity, enforcement of these principles is often flawed.

Bra and underwear retailers struggle to get their ads approved even if the content is not sexual in nature. An ad by Harper Wilde, an online bra startup, featuring a plain bra on a colored background was rejected on the grounds that the link leads to a site featuring adult content.

Since Facebook rejects anything focused on a single body part or that is too zoomed in, exposed bodies on an underwear site certainly violate the terms. While Facebook is attempting to hold up a moral code of not offending users, implementation isn’t consistent.

Although Facebook technically has a link to appeal disapproved ads, users report the link is either broken, or returns an auto-generated response with no way to follow up with a person.

We can certainly appreciate that Facebook now bans the obnoxious “before-after” gifs of someone’s belly fat disappearing to the backdrop of a tape measure, and rejects blatantly offensive material.

Attempting to provide higher quality content that doesn’t shame or offend users is a noble goal.

But when everyday products can’t be advertised, and robots are enforcing grey area, it’s time for a better appeals process. At least now you know what not to include in your next Facebook ad, even if it is legit.

Doxxing — the act of publishing someone’s personal information online for malicious purposes—is a constantly growing threat for anyone with an online presence. While platforms such as Twitter have made it easy to report this specific form of harassment, other social media powerhouses like Facebook have yet to make the leap. It’s perplexing.

Doxxing can take on many forms, from posting someone’s online contact details all the way to placing their address and other highly sensitive information (e.g., a credit card number) in a public environment. The basic premise is usually the same: to cause the recipient of the doxxing stress, pressure them into moving or deleting their account, and/or prevent them from continuing to use their platform in an organic manner.

The consequences of doxxing can differ depending on how rabid the doxxer’s following is, but it isn’t unheard of for conflicts that result in doxxing to escalate into real-world harassment or violence.

Doxxing may seem like a problem reserved for celebrities and other high-traffic accounts, but the truth is that it can happen to anyone with an online presence. In fact, doxxing has become so common that some sites or services include a specific doxxing option when reporting a post for harassment.

Twitter, for example, allows you to report a tweet that “includes private information” as harassment.

Unfortunately, the inclusion of the option to report doxxing on some platforms creates a notable absence thereof on other comparable sites.

Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook) — both of which are ground zeroes for some of the most egregious forms of harassment — do not allow users to report posts for doxxing; instead, users must mark a post as inappropriate or a generic form of harassment and hope that the Facebook Gods recognize it for what it is.

As doxxing continues to impact both virtual and real lives of victims, Facebook and other companies which have yet to follow Twitter’s example will need to pick up the slack if they want to remain relevant in the cybersecurity realm. And they must put effort into stopping doxxing, lest they be complicit in the nefarious acts.

Doxxing may seem like it doesn’t affect enough people to warrant a full feature, but people who encounter doxxing certainly deserve better than a catch-all “harassment” option when reporting doxxing abuse online.