Codebreaker

Facebook wants to monetize you

Adriene Hill May 15, 2012

What’s Facebook going to do with all our data?  Our pics, our friends, our likes and thumbs ups?  We’ll find out soon.  From the NYTimes  “As Facebook turns to Wall Street in the biggest public offering ever by an Internet company, it faces a new, unenviable test: how to keep growing and enriching its hungry new shareholders.”  And to feed those hungry, hungry shareholders, Facebook needs to come up with ways to use its massive data-bank to make money.  So what are we talking here–an online world with more, customized ads?  Or something else? “How Facebook exploits its users’ information — and how those users react — is the next reckoning. David Eastman, worldwide digital director for the advertising agency JWT, said Facebook would need to give marketers more data about what kinds of users click on what kinds of advertising, and about their travels on the Internet before and after they click on an ad. Most brands want to have a presence on Facebook, he said, but they do not quite understand who sees their pitches and whether they lead to greater sales.” And somehow Facebook has to figure this out without turning off a whole lot of users–who only clicked on that ad for mirror-ball-pants to laugh at them.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.