Facebook brings forth some ‘Questions’
Facebook recently implemented its own native ‘polling system’, allowing users to ask and answer questions from both their friends as well as the larger Facebook community. When I logged on and saw my Facebook wall cluttered with questions such as, “Which is better? Coke or Pepsi?”, I quickly realized the genius behind this for Facebook. By adding this new feature, the website further cemented itself as the single greatest source of consumer information on the web and allows corporations to further manipulate social media to their benefit.
Quite simply, these sorts of questions act as a free, viral means of data collection on the general Facebook user-base. Facebook’s 500 million users increasingly represent a broad range of the developed world’s population giving those seeking data a wide array of users to gather information on. For example, going back to the ‘Coke vs. Pepsi’ question; looking at the data from this, companies are able to determine (depending on privacy settings) the sex, age, approximate location, as well as networks of those who voted on the question. While the ‘Coke vs. Pepsi’ question that popped up on my feed was likely asked by some person who wanted to know the opinions of his/her friends, it will be very easy for corporations to ask similar questions and distribute them on a grand scale.
Most likely, this new feature is a precursor for a new means of revenue for the website down the road. I would not be surprised to see corporately sponsored ‘questions’ on my Facebook feed by the end of the year seeking my opinions on various products and world events, all of which will be used by corporations to better market or distribute products.
Facebook needs to make money, and the site may be looking to make its books look better before a possible public offering next year. Alas, this question system, as harnessed by advertisers, will be an incredible source of information and could also spark a significant outlash from the Facebook community.
Although, due to the network effect that social-media websites suffer from (one’s utility only increases if others use the service) its unlikely that even a huge breach of privacy would demolish the giant that is Facebook anytime soon.
