Facebook: It’s Complicated

I realized that Facebook would be a gamechanger for marketing when I joined. As with most folks, I added the information that I was comfortable sharing. For example, I indicated that I was a bird watcher and artist. When I opened my news feed and found an ad for a birding event in my area. I called a friend, who hadn’t heard about the event. We decided to go. Later, there was an ad for a company called Cheap Joe’s. It offered art supplies at discounted prices. I bought a tube of paint and have been a satisfied customer ever since. Without Facebook, I may never have known about these things. I understood that I was “targeted.” I am okay with that type of targeting. When Facebook began to offer ads that used member information, I spent a lot of time talking to business groups about how to capitalize on this platform. What I told my audience was that Facebook’s business model was to allow access to information freely given by its members (who had signed up for free) in order to make these folks aware of advertisers’ products and services. In other words, advertisers are Facebook’s customers. Members’ information is the product.