Monday 12 March 2012

It's not personal, It's business!

I sent an email to somebody the other day, asking if they had considered putting a business page on Facebook.  His reply was quite amusing, and I fully respect his opinion, so I won't be criticising that at all.

Some of the comments he made about Facebook was "loads of messages from friends with irrelevant news/items such as what they're about to have for tea and how long it took them to do their washing up.." which made me smile.  But is it true?

It makes us wonder how Facebook can maintain that it will always be free.  How do they pay for the unknown quantity of staff that keep the Facebook servers running, and how they are able to program and monitor all those web pages and features and make a profit... but it's free, surely?

Well, this part might come as a shock to some of you, but why would somebody like Facebook be interested in how long it took to do your washing up? The answer? BUSINESS.

Every time you post a comment about washing up, your kids new toys, the run up to the next national holiday, the local shops that you have visited, Facebook use this information to place adverts next to your post that relate to the conversation.  People read your comment about the fact you've just enjoyed a nice bottle of wine, and lo and behold there's an advert for a bottle of red from Tesco's.

Have you ever noticed how relevant adverts are during certain sports events?  Why is it you always seem to get car adverts in between the Formula 1 racing, or hair care products in between daytime chat shows? It's all about product advert placement.  And THIS is how Facebook make their money, and this is why we should ALWAYS remember that Facebook is not just personal..

.. it's business.

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