Facebook Effect Part III

In the final part of the book, Kirkpatrick discusses the integration of platforms into facebook which allowed for users to use applications on the website. This was a part of a growing need for Facebook to generate revenue via external factors. Other companies would pay Facebook to have applications such as games installed on Facebook. More importantly, the use of advertising on facebook allowed other companies to directly target their exact audience. It is not uncommon to for a 20 year old male Facebook user to see an advertisement that read" Are you a 20 year old male looking to become a police officer?" or something to that extent. With the applications, it was a win-win situation for facebook as well as the application companies. "There are more than 500,000 applications operating on Facebook, created by over 1 million registered developers from 180 countries" (pg. 232) The rapid growth of facebook demanded more income streamed into maintaining its servers and advertising was a tremendous source of revenue.
Clearly though, the use of private information by companies to create advertisements can be seen as an invasion of privacy. What can look like a fun game at first glance is actually a data mining technique by corporations. For instance there is this application on FB that lets you determine how much of the world you have traveled to, percentage-wise. This information can be used by tourist, airline, and travel agency companies to lure you into visiting countries that you have not yet visited. Every app on facebook has its purpose in terms of collecting information. The dangerous part is that on the surface, it looks completely innocuous.
Once again a seemingly unresistable offer to buy facebook from Google for $15 Billion was put into place, but Zuckerberg refused. He had bigger goals to tackle. Just as their is no offer that has satisfied Zuckerberg, there seems to be no end to Facebook's growth internationally. Countries with incredibly low GDP's are beginning to sign into facebook.