Lurker Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 While this may seem like an ordinary application, think about what this means to Facebook. One of the biggest areas Google & Yahoo are struggling to master, is tracking user behavior. If Google knows user A is a travel enthusiast, Google can maximise its revenue off travel ads. Similarly if user B is a movie buff, Google can target this user for movie ads & so on. This is a very very hard problem & inspite of the amount of intelligence they can build into their algorithms, Google or Yahoo can at the most do a speculative job. OTOH, people go to Facebook & voluntarily give out this info. Essentially what you are saying is that a website like Facebook has data inherent to a person's behaviour where as Google will have to get this data. In a way this is nothing new Bumper, companies have been doing this for a long while really. Everytime you swipe your credit/debit card, you are essentially entering data about where you spent your money and that data is where companies run their campaign generation. It is just that with the new technology advent the scenario has shifted towards web-based world. The catch here would be what can Facebook do with the data. It would be grossly unethical for Facebook to share the user information - like what movies they watch and so on - with an outside vendor unless they spell out very clearly that they are going to share personal data. I would be surprised if they do that, most networking websites keep the information strictly private. I would say the issue would be more to do with hits. If Facebook garners a good number of hits there is a good chance advertisers will end there, specially those who target audience is the urban yipee crowd(Facebook's biggest group). xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gambit Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 If Google should be worried about Facebook, then Symbian should be worried about Google. Google, along with a few others, are developing their own Linux based Mobile OS. If they managed to pull that off and come up with a more robust platform than Symbian, not only will they conquer the mobile OS market, their share prices will skyrocket thanks to the licenses Nokia,SE,Samsung and every other mobile manufacturer will be queuing up to buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 ^^ Darn, another open source software. :coffee: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Essentially what you are saying is that a website like Facebook has data inherent to a person's behaviour where as Google will have to get this data. In a way this is nothing new Bumper, companies have been doing this for a long while really. Everytime you swipe your credit/debit card, you are essentially entering data about where you spent your money and that data is where companies run their campaign generation. It is just that with the new technology advent the scenario has shifted towards web-based world. The catch here would be what can Facebook do with the data. It would be grossly unethical for Facebook to share the user information - like what movies they watch and so on - with an outside vendor unless they spell out very clearly that they are going to share personal data. I would be surprised if they do that, most networking websites keep the information strictly private. xxx This is about "targetted advertising" on the internet, Lurks. Thats where the big bucks will be spent in the future. Nothing illegal about it, as long as they dont sell this personal info to others. Facebook can mine personal data & run targetted ads more effectively than its competitors. This means two things: 1) Facebook will be more effective in its advertising than its rivals 2) Vendors will run to facebook because thats the best place to run their ads. If i want to advertise my product today on the net, Google will prolly be the place i would run my ads. Lets say Google gets 80% of my ad budget and Yahoo 10%, Misc 10%. If facebook runs more effective ads from tomorrow, bulk of my ad budgets would go there (esp if mine is a consumer product). So the split will be more like Facebook 50%, Google 40%, Misc 10%. This is a huge reversal in ad spending as far as Google is concerned. Thats why Google will consider Facebook a serious threat. I would say the issue would be more to do with hits. If Facebook garners a good number of hits there is a good chance advertisers will end there, specially those who target audience is the urban yipee crowd(Facebook's biggest group). Hits are good, but dont usually indicate more potential for revenue. At ICF we generate 6.5M hits a month. But our ads wont make more than $5 a month. You guys arent clicking enough :haha:, but that also tells you why ads could be ineffective if they arent targetted at the right audience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 If i want to advertise my product today on the net, Google will prolly be the place i would run my ads. Lets say Google gets 80% of my ad budget and Yahoo 10%, Misc 10%. If facebook runs more effective ads from tomorrow, bulk of my ad budgets would go there (esp if mine is a consumer product). So the split will be more like Facebook 50%, Google 40%, Misc 10%. This is a huge reversal in ad spending as far as Google is concerned. Thats why Google will consider Facebook a serious threat. Thats a fair point. Yes with the info Facebook has it sure can use that to make more revenues based off advertisement that directly affects the Facebook people. Hits are good, but dont usually indicate more potential for revenue. At ICF we generate 6.5M hits a month. But our ads wont make more than $5 a month. You guys arent clicking enough :haha:, but that also tells you why ads could be ineffective if they arent targetted at the right audience. Much more than the hits I think what matters is the number of unique hits. If we have 6.5 million hits a month and about 10,000 unique hits that means essentially a market of 10,000 people. On the other hand if Facebook has say about few million userbase(which I am sure it does) you are looking at a much bigger market, potentially of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Much more than the hits I think what matters is the number of unique hits. If we have 6.5 million hits a month and about 10,000 unique hits that means essentially a market of 10,000 people. On the other hand if Facebook has say about few million userbase(which I am sure it does) you are looking at a much bigger market, potentially of course. Am afraid even if we receive a million unique hits at ICF, our revenues wont be significant. I dont reckon, hits matter more than the relevance of the ads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veer Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 can we sue google for discrimination.. for hiring only the smart ones.. :cantstop: freaking awesome.. my colleague's sister works there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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