According to statements by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, his company's services, are and will be free for everyone. The largest social network Facebook, however it continues and has earnings in many different ways. Phantom or even underground very well hidden.
According to euronews the performance recorded by Facebook share is impressive. In the first quarter of 2014, net earnings amounted to 642 million USD, 25 cents per share against 219 million in the previous quarter, 9 cents per share. The total revenue amounted to 2,5 billion dollars, while analysts' estimates reported net earnings of 24 cents per share and 2,36 revenue of two dollars.
According to the above data, the "free" service, it will probably continue to be "free". Besides, the company's FAQ states this categorically.
How much does Facebook's statement apply? With over one billion users, the company has the convenience of not charging the end user with a service fee. But after the latest revelations, we will probably have to rethink if that is the ideal one. The indications that come to us in the form of company announcements, or as media leaks, confirm that they all have a cost.
But let's look at what the cost is.
With the launch of the new feature Promoted Post, many argued that Facebook is preparing to end the absolute free. We would not say that exactly. It was an indication that confirmed the logic of the company's existence. A feature that brings extra profits allowing each user of the service to advertise what they are sharing by collecting additional clicks.
Let us not forget, of course, that Facebook earns millions of dollars from ads by recording the likes and user habits. How does it earn money? It's very simple. Let's say you post a message to a friend telling you that you just came back from a trip to Pelion and you were wonderful. You may also have visited pages that exist for Pelion on Facebook and clicked "Like". With all this, without even knowing it, you gave the system a personal information about yourself. It is most likely that sometime in the near future you will see an ad about Pelion.
The above paragraph describes how the company can make a profit when it manages the items you put out for yourself. And this is because databases with so much personal information are treasures for third-party advertising companies.
Although Facebook has stated that it does not share its users' data with third parties, who can trust a company that has recently been "caught" conducting psychological experiments on its members without their knowledge?
Facebook gave information to advertisers
For the story, the US Federal Communications Commission after a survey published in the 2011 concluded that the largest social networking service is deceiving its users. Facebook then admitted that it misled its members repeatedly from December 2009 to July 2010. According to in.gr, it agreed to be put on probation for 20 years, with the threat of a fine of $16.500 a day for each future infringement of the agreement.
From September 2008 to 26 May of 2010, Facebook gave advertisers user ID of the members who clicked on their ads.
With this code, advertisers could collect more information about users who clicked on their ads, such as linking the advertised product to the real name of the user who saw the post, how much time it spent on the advertiser's website. Thus, advertising companies could in the future access the user in new ways of advertising by combining the information gathered from the User ID. The same thing happened with the applications running on the Facebook platform.
According to the above revelations, we could hope that the company will have to comply with the regulations.
Error. In our previous release, we mentioned that Facebook's exploitation practices were once again unveiled.
EPIC, an American non-profit organization for the protection of privacy on the Internet resorted to the United States Federal Trade Commission complaining as an "immoral" experiment made by Facebook Inc, "with the minds of the people". As EPIC claims, the company did not have the explicit consent of the users who carried out the experiment. The US organization asks not only to punish the company but also to make public the algorithm that generates the Updates that interfere with the end user's emotion.
The scientists, of course, argued that the experiment was in agreement with them Facebook Privacy Policy. EPIC insists that the terms, the period in question, did not allow the use of members' data for research purposes. The experiment was done onteam January 11-18, 2012, and as documented by EPIC, the change in the relevant terms that included the use of personal data for research purposes was made four months after the experiment was conducted. The organization also reminds that the company is under surveillance based on a previous related decision by the FTC, according to which it is required to have the express consent of its members before sharing their data with third parties.
EPIC also asks to publish the way it has enabled scientists and third-party collaborators from the Cornell and California universities. That's why the company in the FAQ states that the end user can adjust what to see.
After all, how much do you cost your emotional state? Is Facebook a free service? We should probably accept that Mark Zuckerberg's "free" means acceptance of all of the above. In fact, according to the good manners we were taught as children, we should say thank you.
