June 2nd, 2007
Facebook commercializes 24 million users: Sells special access to News Feeds
Did you know “young adults are the primary trend drivers in our society.” So believes Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, and very young trend setter for his own acount!
What is Facebook up to now? Facebook goes commercial, big time.
Just days ago I undersocred: Why Facebook is scarier than Google. How so? Just read the Facebook Privacy Policy, as I excerpted:
USE OF INFORMATION OBTAINED BY FACEBOOK
By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.
Facebook may use information in your profile without identifying you as an individual to third parties. We do this for purposes such as aggregating how many people in a network like a band or movie and personalizing advertisements and promotions so that we can provide you Facebook. We believe this benefits you. You can know more about the world around you and, where there are advertisements, they’re more likely to be interesting to you. For example, if you put a favorite movie in your profile, we might serve you an advertisement highlighting a screening of a similar one in your town. But we don’t tell the movie company who you are.
How Facebook sells its 24 million Facebookers to advertisers:
Marketing to young adults on their own terms is critical for success. Facebook offers relevant and integrated advertising opportunities to engage the tech-savvy youth audience.
While Facebook allows third party companies to buy targeted access to individual Facebookers, Facebook believes all is “relevant and integrated” advertising good because “we don’t tell the (X) company who you are.”
Perhaps not, but Facebook may very well tell companies everything you do and everything about you!
Do Facebookers really welcome ads served just for them? We may soon find out. Facebook has entered the for-fee, sponsored polling business.
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What is Facebook Polls?
An easy way to get quick answers to your questions. Allows you to ask detailed questions, target them to specific user segments and receive real-time responses. You can target Facebook users based on gender, age, school, location, or profile keyword.
The poll will display in users’ News Feed.
In other words, if any corporation, organization or individual wants to “poll” people who describe themselves as “sex maniac,” Facebook Polls is the direct product for them, all it takes is $5 to start. From there, the Facebook Polling sky is the limit:
Facebook charges you based on the number of responses you indicate that you need, multiplied by the amount that you indicate that you’re willing to pay per response. The more you pat per response, the faster Facebook delivers complete results.
Does Facebook stand behind its “fast” results? NO:
We do not give refunds for any reason. This includes, but is not limited to, polls we removed for any reason, polls we removed at your request, or if the site was down for some or all of the time that your poll was supposed to run.
Facebook will not verify the accuracy nor the statistical significance of response data.
Is the vaunted Facebook “Social Graph” now very business rules anti-social?
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