Your Demographics Are Your Greatest Value To A Social Network
There has been a lot written in the last week about Facebook Beacon, I am not going to recount them for everyone but link to some of the best ones that I have read so far.
One of the many Mashable posts about how Facebook is catching the ire of many privacy groups.
Techcrunch is looking at the backlash that is happening and how quickly the advertisers are bailing out.
Jason Calacanis lays out his argument.
Scobleizer wants to know where Mark Zukerberg? (Zukerberg just posted his response to all of this today.)
A great post about Facebook’s “Evil” design at bokardo.com
Away from beacon there is a nice slide presentation on your privacy and facebook.
While I agree that the way Beacon is set up it is a huge privacy violation, I am shocked at the reaction of people. What do you think social networking sites do with your information? Where do you think the valuation of MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking websites come from? The google or microsoft ads on the pages? No, the demographical information that users provide to these websites is disgustingly valuable to corporations.
Facebook being a threat to your privacy isn’t exactly news, in fact this has been a discussion subject for years. The only reason that this specific event has caught so much push back has been because how public your purchasing habits are and that this was an opt out but not an opt in system. Facebook has rectified the “situation” and how the program works, allowing you to control your information and what external sites connect to you. Of course now the complaining will die down and people will return to their everyday usage on whatever social networks they belong to.
To be honest I have come to accept that my information is of so much value to these networks, it is the price of admission in my mind. If you want to use these networks for free, they need something from you because as it has been said before… nothing in this world is free. You seeing the ads on their pages isn’t exactly going to cover the bill; your data, your habits, your demographics, and your interests will though. I can only guess what they are doing with it but I am well aware that they are using it.
Recently I met with a few people that work for a company that is a launching social networking service. They flat out said that one of their goals was collecting data and how their platform was setup allowed them to really assess how and why consumers used things. Because they had a way for users to monetize their content they were going to work with businesses and create an online shopping portal that tied into all of this. They knew that the demographics that they would collect was their biggest selling point to potential investors and businesses, in fact they were proud of the system they had setup.
Do I think that the initial setup of Beacon was over the line? Yes. But I am not surprised, at least on some level it was overt and obvious. It is a little more frightening what we don’t know. Rest assured though, your data and demographics are valuable and they are being shared, it is just the price of admission.
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POSTED IN: Facebook
9 opinions for Your Demographics Are Your Greatest Value To A Social Network
Mark Stoneman
Dec 5, 2007 at 9:50 am
So then the question becomes, do I want admission? For me that answer is easy, but what about students who spend more time communicating with Facebook than email? (Edwired reported some time ago that email was something they only used to communicate with old people, meaning the likes of me, or even you.)
Kevin
Dec 5, 2007 at 9:56 am
You just called me old… I want to go cry now.
You are right the question becomes do you want admission? Right now a lot of people do, and even more have to. It is a choice people have to make, where do you draw the line. But as more and more of our media, content, and connections are centered around online the more we are going to have to give up.
An interesting little aside to this in my mind is… This is one of the issues behind getting true aggregation services to manage ones systems. These companies lose out at having and controlling this data.
Maria
Dec 5, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Finally, someone writes something straight forward & honest about this program. I have had it with people sending me links about Beacon and how up in arms they are about it, as you said, this is the price of admission and one I am willing to pay.
Kevin
Dec 5, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Thanks Maria… I figured everyone was piling on and nobody was looking at it objectively
billsandsabres.com
Dec 10, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Demographics are pretty valuable for these companies.
Scott Allen
Dec 31, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Kevin:
Here’s what’s at issue for me…
I’m willing to let a company use data they collect about my behavior to target content and advertising to me. That should create a better user experience for me, and doesn’t expose my individual behaviors to other individuals or organizations.
I’m also willing to let a company use my data in aggregate, e.g., to attract advertisers who want to target a particular demographic. Again, it should create a better user experience for me, and allow the company to make more money, without exposing my individual behaviors or preferences to others.
But the assumption that I want to allow individuals I know to automatically know what I’m buying, what I’m reading, what I’m listening to, etc., is beyond ludicrous. I don’t care if Facebook, or even their partners, know that I’m checking out the competition’s products, or buying porn, or Richard Simmons workout videos, or Danielle Steel novels or whatever. That doesn’t mean that I want to put that on public display to all my friends.
Linked Intelligence
Dec 31, 2007 at 1:14 pm
[…] was quick to distance LinkedIn from the privacy fiasco surrounding Facebook’s Beacon advertising program: Q: How far should a social network go in using the information it gathers from […]
Kevin
Dec 31, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Scott,
I agree they way the did it was wrong. My friends don’t need to know where I have been or what I have done but that data has been collected long before it has been made public and not just by facebook. At this point I just have come to grips that corporate America knows I buy large amounts of glue to sniff… I can’t help it.
-Kevin
Scott Allen
Jan 3, 2008 at 12:07 am
Priceless cartoon from Geek & Poke about Facebook Beacon
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