We all used facebook free of cost. At least we didnt have to pay a penny to get in . Same goes for any email service. But if everything is free at facebook or email, how do the companies make money?
Facebook collects data from us while we register into the site. Then it tracks us on every press we make on and off facebook. Facebook application can read your photos, videos and device location even if you dont post them on facebook.
Why does it track us? : To make MONEY. Let me make it more clear. If facebook has the data of your frequently visited places it knows your food habit. Then it can sale your interest to its potential advertisers. As facebook knows the interest with the help of AI, no other advertisement platform would be able to sale this to advertisers. By giving our data to facebook, we are making facebook the mighty advertisement platform. Thats how it makes money, ton of money.
At the same time facebook knows how the technology is evolving around and the social interaction trends better than anybody. In some cases facebook knows about our hobby or favourite colours more than we are aware of ourselves.
Ohh wait why are we using facebook then ?
There are some important developments within facebook that drew us here. It gave us a place to connect our friends and family. Then we could see them, show them(sometimes show off) and interact with them. Then it provided instant messaging service. As it continued to build upon our interest, facebook has evolved how the user wanted. Hence it has become users platform of choice( and the biggest data pool ever).
So should we just leave facebook?
Absolutely not. Not at least till an alternate solution is found. But it is paramount to know about what is facebook doing with our data and how its handling our interest. I call it " informed user". Be an informed and conscious user. As long as you know what you are doing, i think its fine.
My point is , i see many people dont even know why do they do what they do in facebook. Many a times, we post private information which if we knew bit more wouldnt do .