Advertisements and traders
People commonly think that what we get from the Internet, such as tremendous information, social networks, and the news, is for free because it does not ask for money in front of your eyes. However, virtually, as you join in one of the sites or as you randomly click on something on the page that catches your attention, your data is given away to advertisers who are willing to put up their ads on the site so that they could drive out more customers from the site. Thus, in other words, the Internet does not usually require physical fee from you but requires you to pay by your information. Some of the sites that are well-known for access to various advertisements are Google and Facebook, and we call them traders since they exchange your data with physical money from advertisers.
People might wonder that how would Google and Facebook make such a big amount of money from giving away information collected from random people to advertisers. However, it is reported that Google was making $14.70 per 1,000 searches in 2010. To explain how this works, an example of Facebook can be given. As you join Facebook, you put in your personal information like where you live and what you like. Then, Facebook will figure out what kind of advertisements you would be interested in based on the information that was collected from your application. Especially these days, when the Internet is the primary media through which people interact and exchange information with each other, it is beneficial for advertisers to put their ads on frequently visited sites because it will be efficient and more convenient for them, as well. However, exchanging you data does not end here. As you visit other sites, Facebook automatically shares your information with them, so that the advertisers that put up their ads on those sites could benefit. Then, Facebook obviously will cost the sites for the data that they offered.
It is true that Facebook could take advantage of our personal information, which could threaten your privacy. However, the role of traders is crucial because absence of them could interrupt the flow of information. The sources that provide us with this tremendous information cannot spread the information when traders do not exist. Unless such traders do not give away our information immorally, traders play an important role on valuing information in terms of converting its value to a physical one. Also, it promotes tremendous amount of information to flourish.
Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/09/tech/web/facebook-google-profit-data/index.html?iref=allsearch