Wednesday, July 11, 2012

How Facebook Makes Money By Using Your Data?

Facebook is one of the best things that happened in the recent years. It is one of the drawing powers of this decade (along with Twitter and Linked In) with millions of people joining the social network every moment. No doubt, Facebook gives us a great opportunity to look beyond boundaries and help us connect with people scattered around the world. It also helps small businesses drum up their businesses to a great deal and help them play and win in the Global stage. All's well! But, does it stop right there?

For most of us, Facebook is a fun tool, because it is FREE and easily connects us to our friends, old classmates, relatives and other networks. As per the latest records, Facebook has 900 million+ active users. These users fall into any of these three major categories. 1. Consumers (like you and me) 2. Advertisers 3. App Developers. Facebook proves a boon for Advertisers and App Developers and help them gain great bucks in a short frame of time.

But, what about for us consumers who regularly login to Facebook and enjoy its services for FREE. We spend a lot of time on Facebook and share our updates, photos, videos and also take a quick peek at others' updates and photos - All for FREE. We pump in so much of our private data on a regular basis without worrying about the fact that Facebook is making great bucks out of mine and your data! So, have you ever wondered how Facebook makes money with a huge chunk of FREE consumers signing up every moment somewhere in the world? It's by Social Network Advertising!



Internet Advertising
You may be aware that Google and Yahoo are forerunners in Internet Advertising. You see a lot of Google Ads on the websites you browse. Online Advertisers can place their Ads based on the content of the web page that may catch the eyes of the visitors, which may result in buying the service or product. Well, the best part of Internet Advertising is, it is quick, often inexpensive and the reach is beyond geographical boundaries. After the launch of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, Social Network Advertising too has become a smashing hit!

Small Businesses Gain and Win on FB!
Small businesses especially the online ones, see Facebook as one of the quickest and hottest venues for Advertising than TV or Print Ads. Most of the small businesses have a Facebook Fan page where they can interact with their Fans and potential customers about their products and services. So, how much does a Facebook Ad cost? The pricing for Facebook Ads differ and Small businesses can pay as minimum as $5/ day per Ad and get started. If you run a small business and plan to advertise on Facebook, check out FBAdsLab page. Well, whether buying Facebook Ads will reap profit for your business is a different subject that has to be tested over time. However, one must agree that Facebook does give a crucial starting point for any business to widen its customer network.

How do you help Facebook Earn Money?
As a regular user of Facebook, you might find these Facebook Ads (appear on the right hand side of every page) quite annoying. But, Facebook makes huge money with these Ad revenues! So, how do YOU help in this Facebook revenue game? By regularly using Facebook, sharing your updates, liking a product or a service, you help Facebook earn a good part of its revenues.Let's learn how that's done.

The more you share on FB, more targeted Ads on your FB page!

Facebook can easily dig into every detail of yours and widely distribute them to data-gathering agencies and advertisers, so that your FB Home Page will receive more specific and targeted Ads! For instance, if you 'liked' a particular cuisine website, given a status update about the latest restaurant you ate in or updated about the latest movie you watched, chances are high that you will receive Ads about multi-cuisine websites, popular restaurants in your city or the website that sells movie tickets online on your FB page! Ah, so let's think twice before sharing our status updates the next time, particularly if you hate those Ads.

Click the Ads and Get noticed!

Another way of getting noticed through Facebook is by clicking specific brands ads or purchasing them right from your Facebook page. The moment you click on the Ad, the advertisers will learn about who you are and where you are from! Result ? More targeted ads, sponsored stories etc., on your Facebook page.

Facebook's 'Like' Button Plays its part too!

The 'Like' button, one of the most admired and oft-used features of Facebook plays a silent game. But, do you know that whenever you visit a website that has a Facebook 'Like' button, your details are collected and distributed to the relevant parties? Yes! Facebook reports every detail like the date, time of your visit, your Computer's IP address, whether you clicked the Like button or not etc., Note again: This happens, even when you don't click the Facebook Like button on that website!

Say 'No' to Facebook Apps!

A lot of us get invites to those freaky, funny Facebook Apps every now and then. How? A Friend of yours who's using these Apps, can easily transfer your details to these third-party app developers and data-gathering agencies without your knowledge! Once you accept the App invite, your details are permanently stored in the third-party database for more and wider distribution! What's more apart from these Apps getting hold of your public data, some smart apps can delve deeper in to your data and can learn what your friends share with you on Facebook. So, its better to Block all the Facebook Apps Invites beforehand!

Facebook is a great tool when used in moderation- Like salt in our food! You can't shun the top social networking site altogether, but you can be prudent before you share your details and thoughts on FB!

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