FACEBOOK reading users profile info and giving it to Advertisers...

Facebook looks to cash in on user data

Julee Morrison has been obsessed with Bon Jovi since she was a teenager. So when paid ads for fan sites started popping up on the 41-year-old Salt Lake City blogger's Facebook page, she was thrilled. She described herself as a "clicking fool," perusing videos and photos of the New Jersey rockers. Then it dawned on Morrison why all those Bon Jovi ads appeared every time she logged onto the social networking site."Facebook is reading my profile, my interests, the people and pages I am 'friends' with and targeting me," Morrison said. "It's brilliant social media, but it's absolutely creepy."For Facebook users, the free ride is over.

For years, the privately held company founded by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room put little effort into ad sales, focusing instead on making its service irresistible to users. It worked. Today more than 600 million people have Facebook accounts. The average user spends seven hours a month posting photos, chatting with friends, swapping news links and sending birthday greetings to classmates.Now the Palo Alto company is looking to cash in on this mother lode of personal information by helping advertisers pinpoint exactly who they want to reach. This is no idle boast. Facebook doesn't have to guess who its users are or what they like. Facebook knows, because members volunteer this information freely - and frequently - in their profiles, status updates, wall posts, messages and "likes."It's now tracking this activity, shooting online ads to users based on their demographics, interests, even what they say to friends on the site - sometimes within minutes of them typing a key word or phrase.

LINK TO ARTICLE

As if anyone needed another reason to stay away from FACEBOOK. Well heres another one anyway. Not only is FACEBOOK a waste of time but it s now becoming a waste of your money...

reply to post by gdaub23


Yeah this seems like old news now, but Mark Zuckerberg has come out to defend these allegations in the press. My question is why do people give out so much information on facebook? You dont need to feed them every single aspect of your life down to what brand of toilet paper you use, its nonsense.

Who cares. paranoid ass people.

If you go to Google's search page and see the ads on the side, or go to ANY webpage that serves Google AdSense ads, you'll see the exact same things.

It's smart advertising, and companies pay a lot of money to get their ads in front of your face. People that host those ads on their pages can make a decent income from it, as well, if they know what they are doing.

If you think that Facebook has not done this all along, you've got a lack of sense (or cents)

reply to post by demetriandlucy


obviously you dont,at least enough to leave a decent comment....i guess its a good thing that you dont post more because at least this one doesnt seem very informational..try to do a little better next time...and also everybody on this site is paranoid in one way or another and thats probably one of the reasons everyone is here

reply to post by gdaub23


Never used facebook/myspace/someother"socialnetwork"garbagesite. Never will, either.

Kinda sad its so popular.

reply to post by gdaub23


I really don't think it's a big deal. So what if they compile our interests and target us with advertisements that may appeal to us? As long as you're not an idiot and you don't post sensitive information (which no one should be doing anywhere on the internet), you have nothing to worry about.

It's utterly despicable how many people post their personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, and even their day-to-day schedules out of shear ignorance. On that end, we have more to worry about with internet griefers and potential burglars, rather than ads.

reply to post by demetriandlucy


Get the F**** out this forum. IGNORANT! and pretty sure u r just a paid disinfo agent or a software.. writing against Free Speech.

WHOEVER IS BEHIND THAT MONITOR COME. Silly CIA SLUT.

reply to post by demetriandlucy


Who cares? This is a perfect example of how greed corrupts most of our technology and business practices on a global scale. It's unfortunate enough that when we drive down the road we are beat constantly into the mind game of corporate advertisements. This is now happening online on an exponential scale. Everyday, consciously or subconsciously we are bombarded from every angle with advertisements that play on your desires and laziness. I mean why cook a 30 minute healthy meal when you can knock out the whole thing in 15 with fast food. Sometimes I wish I could just open her up on the highway with some peace of mind, but I always find my eyes drifting to those advertisements, now even on the internet. It's shady that now instead of guessing at your likes and interests, we are making their job much easier. Seriously, when will it end?

Now I recently deactivated my account, lifting experience, look at the world like a little kid again. The bummer about the whole concept is that Facebook attracted people because of how one could connect with lost friends or make it easier to find new ones. Slowly, but surely, a positive concept was transformed into the evil monster it is today. That is why I personally care, but what the hell, let's just add some more gas to the fire for commercialism.

Does this mean that I will be getting solicitations from 419eater.com?

Cause thats what went up on my FB....

The fact that Facebook is targeting users for advertisement reasons shouldn't surprise any user. How do you think it's free, or how he's made BILLIONS off Facebook? Simple .... Advertising I've noticed currently these multiple choice questions are appearing on Facebook




I've seen such questions as: What order do you fall under in your family?, What states have you visited? These just started appearing in the last couple months.

Anyone stupid enough to believe this wouldn't happen with the likes of facebook or otherwise completely deserves the outcome. And if that wasn't enough the person in the article deserves it even more on account of their crappy taste in music.

brill

people really find this shocking? the whole facebook, myspace, social networking fad is just that, pages set up for users to show their likes, interests, friends, photos, ect. the whole bit is made for the specific reason to see others with common interests and groups of friends. If people find this shocking or creepy its a quite simple solution...dont have one! as for the people who use them, they know what they are putting out there and why they are doing it. And by the number of users i think its safe to say they arent bothered by it. also there are various privacy settings as well and you can choose to accept or deny anyone. and lastly for the advertisments, where on the internet is there not any? if you dont want to be bothered by the advertisments, dont click on them.

and im not advocating Facebook by any means, just stating facts... thats all.