Facebook Metrics Questioned After Census Data Reveals Discrepancy

Facebook's user data is being called into question (again) after an analyst noticed that the social network's metrics don't add up with U.S. census data. Of note, Facebook claims to have more reach in particular age brackets than U.S. census data indicates is possible. In one case, the discrepancy between Facebook's metrics and U.S. census data is ten million people.

Such is the result of Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser's look into the numbers. Per the WSJ, Wieser found that Facebook claims about reaching up to 41 million users between the ages of 18 and 24 is about 10 million people higher than the 31 million individuals U.S. census data indicates live in the US.

The same is true for the next age bracket up, with Facebook metrics claiming a reach of 60 million people, whereas census data indicates there are only 45 million people in this age bracket. Facebook gets the age of its users based on whatever they voluntarily provide when creating their account; users who create multiple accounts can also skew the data.

In a statement provided to the WSJ, a Facebook spokesperson said that Facebook makes its reach estimations based on things like the location data it gets from devices, its user demographics, and other unspecified things. 'They are not designed to match population or census estimates,' the spokesperson explained.

This ultimately raises an important question for marketers and others considering using Facebook as an advertising platform: how accurate are the company's reach estimates? The degree to which these discrepancies may affect marketers is unclear.

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal