Facebook and your data
Last night, I watched the excellent documentary on BBC 2 about the growth of Facebook and how they use the data created by users to make money.
If you didn't catch it, have a look on the iPlayer for Inside Facebook.
So, Facebook take your data and use it to do several things.
Firstly, they use your friends, links between them and your interests to suggest new friends to you. Very helpful! This often means that you end up with about 200 people in your network who can see what you do or like and vice-versa.
That's actually quite helpful and is probably why you joined.. to communicate!
Next up, you Like various company pages, band pages and so on. Again, your friends can see this.
More importantly, Facebook can see what you Like, who your friends are and the basic details about you. For example, you are Male, live in London, went to school in Cambridge and are currently single.
This then allows Facebook to sell you adverts based upon your details. It also allows the companies you Like to make sure you see everything they post in Facebook via their page such as a special offer or new product.
Why is this valuable and how does it make money? Well, without repeating the entire documentary, it means that every time you log in, you see adverts for things you may like and stories in your feed for things you do like already.
In essence, marketing for new business and repeat business at the same time. Clever hey?!
Check out the programme for more and post your own thoughts if you found it interesting and if it changes how you view Facebook, what you share and who you Like.
Watch it here. Mark Zuckerberg - Inside Facebook - BBC iPlayer
If you didn't catch it, have a look on the iPlayer for Inside Facebook.
So, Facebook take your data and use it to do several things.
Firstly, they use your friends, links between them and your interests to suggest new friends to you. Very helpful! This often means that you end up with about 200 people in your network who can see what you do or like and vice-versa.
That's actually quite helpful and is probably why you joined.. to communicate!
Next up, you Like various company pages, band pages and so on. Again, your friends can see this.
More importantly, Facebook can see what you Like, who your friends are and the basic details about you. For example, you are Male, live in London, went to school in Cambridge and are currently single.
This then allows Facebook to sell you adverts based upon your details. It also allows the companies you Like to make sure you see everything they post in Facebook via their page such as a special offer or new product.
Why is this valuable and how does it make money? Well, without repeating the entire documentary, it means that every time you log in, you see adverts for things you may like and stories in your feed for things you do like already.
In essence, marketing for new business and repeat business at the same time. Clever hey?!
Check out the programme for more and post your own thoughts if you found it interesting and if it changes how you view Facebook, what you share and who you Like.
Watch it here. Mark Zuckerberg - Inside Facebook - BBC iPlayer
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