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This "product" meme is inaccurate and misleading. You are the product in the same way that Lebron James is the NBA's product, the same way that a top partner at

This "product" meme is inaccurate and misleading. You are the product in the same way that Lebron James is the NBA's product, the same way that a top partner at Goldman Sacs is the product, the same way that Justin Bieber is the product, and the same way that you yourself is the product every time you apply for a job interview or raise funds. Being the "product" gives you a great position in your relationship with the company and incentivizes them to treat you very well. Fact of the matter is, and is as demonstrably evident, FB can cares much less about keeping this advertiser happy than about keeping its users happy.

gbaygon 14y ago
Your examples are making money out of it... facebook users aren't. Maybe the "product meme" is misleading, but i think that the "customer" label is also misleading.
king_jester 14y ago
> This "product" meme is inaccurate and misleading. You are the product in the same way that Lebron James is the NBA's product, the same way that a top partner at Goldman Sacs is the product, the same way that Justin Bieber is the product, and the same way that you yourself is the product every time you apply for a job interview or raise funds. I think this comparison is valid, but realize that most people are not a Lebron James or a Justin Bieber and they have very little ability to influence a company directly. In fact, for record labels and the NBA, there have been numerous examples of smaller players getting a bad deal or being screwed over. Being a user or consumer of a service does not mean that the service provider is looking to treat you well.
joezydeco 14y ago
The NBA takes in ticket money and pays Lebron James a salary. Goldman Sachs takes in commissions and fees and pays their top partners a salary and bonuses. Justin Bieber's record company sells records and Justin Bieber gets a royalty check. What is Facebook paying me for the content they are selling advertising against? Is the ability to access their service my compensation?
djloche 14y ago
Facebook cares about keeping the shareholders happy. That means that they have to dramatically increase the opportunities for companies with money to give it to Facebook for access to the users. It's very clear that Facebook doesn't care about keeping their users happy. They went from 'provide opportunities for growth in size' to 'provide opportunities for growth of our bank account'. They'll continue to aggressively push this trend as far as they can - until users start leaving facebook for good.

gbaygon 14y ago

Your examples are making money out of it... facebook users aren't. Maybe the "product meme" is misleading, but i think that the "customer" label is also misleading.

king_jester 14y ago

> This "product" meme is inaccurate and misleading. You are the product in the same way that Lebron James is the NBA's product, the same way that a top partner at Goldman Sacs is the product, the same way that Justin Bieber is the product, and the same way that you yourself is the product every time you apply for a job interview or raise funds. I think this comparison is valid, but realize that most people are not a Lebron James or a Justin Bieber and they have very little ability to influence a company directly. In fact, for record labels and the NBA, there have been numerous examples of smaller players getting a bad deal or being screwed over. Being a user or consumer of a service does not mean that the service provider is looking to treat you well.

joezydeco 14y ago

The NBA takes in ticket money and pays Lebron James a salary. Goldman Sachs takes in commissions and fees and pays their top partners a salary and bonuses. Justin Bieber's record company sells records and Justin Bieber gets a royalty check. What is Facebook paying me for the content they are selling advertising against? Is the ability to access their service my compensation?

djloche 14y ago

Facebook cares about keeping the shareholders happy. That means that they have to dramatically increase the opportunities for companies with money to give it to Facebook for access to the users. It's very clear that Facebook doesn't care about keeping their users happy. They went from 'provide opportunities for growth in size' to 'provide opportunities for growth of our bank account'. They'll continue to aggressively push this trend as far as they can - until users start leaving facebook for good.