So I’m going to tell it to you straight. When it comes to investing time in a Facebook page, lately, I’m just plain against it. Well, that is unless you’re going to spend money on ads. Seriously. The social media budget is a reality.

I’m sorry if you’ve spent a ton of resources and energy building out an organic Facebook plan. News flash: the organic only days are gone. Organic reach is in the single digits for big brands – your pages surely won’t be exempt.

The only way to combat the drop is with a little Facebook advertising – a marketplace that has been evolving quite a bit over the last few years and again this week.

Now, we know Facebook is going to sugar coat the details but if you know anything about me, I’m sugar-free. Here’s the June 2014 update, in plain English:

What It Means:

• Of course, the product manager in the video was emphasizing privacy again, and so was the other language on the information page. It even directly mentions opt outs and industry-standards (shocked face). Being this open is a pivot for them, likely one inspired by investors, the internet police and revenue. 
• Here’s the thing. Instead of saying outright “we’re going to start tracking your mobile and website activities, they include this quick 1 line that mentions if you DON’T want to include information about the sites that users visit and mobile apps they use outside Facebook, you don’t have to.
• Yeah, you should probably turn that off once this goes live.
• The update I’m looking forward to most is the creation of an Ad Preferences page for users. Facebook users can decide what companies they see, which ones they’ll never see again and give input directly from the ad. I snagged a screen shot of the new ad preferences drop down.

Why It Matters:

Facebook isn’t just using the activity you do on their site now to sell to advertisers. It’s using your mobile apps and browser history – apps that are a 3^rd party to Facebook. Basically, everything you do on your phone and web browsers is free game.

What You Can Do With This News:

Set up a google alert now for “Facebook launch ad preference page” so when the page goes live, you can update yours. You can also depend on those whiners you call Facebook friends to post a chain-e-mail about Facebook taking away all of your privacy. It’ll be a few weeks for users in the US; it’s unclear when the page will be available for the rest of the world.

You can read more about Facebook’s newest release, from their perspective here.