Do you know facebook is not free?

Do you Know, Facebook all over the world is increasing rapidly with a global usage penetration of 22.9 percent.[1] About 26.3% of the global population use Facebook as of June 2017[2].

Facebook has made us very easy to share information, whatever it may. We share, post, like or comment the photos, status, etc. which means it is directly connected with our mind and behavior. Every time we take an amazing or beautiful photograph, we want them to see, like and comment by many people, therefore we cannot wait to post them on the Facebook wall. Receiving likes and good comments change our mood. Through Facebook we get lost in virtual life and we forget to connect us with the real world. A study[3] showed that it has an impact over the behavior of people: “due to the constant submission of social comparison because of social media sites, it has been believed that ones social comparisons and evaluations will take an impact on one’s own self-identity”. All above findings of the studies reveal that Facebook’s privacy management of users’ personal information affects the behaviors of Facebook patrons both negatively and positively by targeting the need and demand of people in a virtual world.

I am a frequent user of Facebook. Facebook have each detail of individual like how we look, our locations, our relationship status. There are lot of unwanted posts that come in the Facebook news feed. It’s annoying whenever Facebook seeks very private information such as phone numbers, my feelings, locations. Whenever I use it, I feel like it’s not safe, but to get virtually and socially connected with my friends all over the world which is somewhat good. But there are lots of stuffs that has a weak privacy setting which we cannot control by ourselves. It should be used sensitively by not posting my personal information and keep all my Facebook privacy setting very strict.

As facebook is a public networking site established with a business motive it is not at all free. To sustain themselves, they need to generate revenue and earn profits. Many times, we have experienced that Facebook it seeks our very personal information such as name, age, gender, even our location, favorite movies, favorite books, education, favorite music, etc. By gathering all personal information Facebook compiles, analyzes and identify the potential customer and based on demographic features the advertiser are targeted to individual clients. If we review the data policy of Facebook[4]  then they have stated “We want our advertising to be as relevant and interesting as the other information you find on our Services. We use all of the information we have about you to show you relevant ads.”  They charge a certain amount of business companies to post their advertisement and those advertisements are posted to the Newsfeed and this is from what Facebook generate its revenue. For example, if an individual “likes” page of liquor store, then Facebook will know the genuine interest of that particular person is in liquor and therefore they start posting similar kind of pages (advertisement) in that person’s Facebook wall. It’s a virtual marketing platform where the consumer’s preferences are analyzed and their and catch their attention. Therefore, Facebook as such can create business opportunities by using the personal information of their clients.

Do you Know, Facebook all over the world is increasing rapidly with a global usage penetration of 22.9 percent.[5] About 26.3% of the global population use Facebook as of June 2017[6]. The usage trend over the year shows that he is getting close to his ambitions.

[1] Statista. (2017f). Leading countries based on number of Facebook users as of July 2017 (in millions). [The Statistics Portal]. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/top-15-countries-based-on-number-of-facebook-users/

[2] Statista. (2017f). Percentage of global population using Facebook as of June 2017, by region [The Statistics Portal]. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/241552/share-of-global-population-using-facebook-by-region/

[3] Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206.

[4] Facebook (2016). Data Policy. Retrived from https://www.facebook.com/full_data_use_policy

[5] Statista. (2017f). Leading countries based on number of Facebook users as of July 2017 (in millions). [The Statistics Portal]. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/top-15-countries-based-on-number-of-facebook-users/

[6] Statista. (2017f). Percentage of global population using Facebook as of June 2017, by region [The Statistics Portal]. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/241552/share-of-global-population-using-facebook-by-region/