The Genius Behind Facebook

Facebook is without a doubt the most popular social network and one of the most used at the moment in the world.

We know about its peculiarities and also some of its weaknesses, however, in the business context which is the one that interests us, this model contains behind it something that I share with you today and that I call: The genius behind Facebook.

For those who do not use Facebook or do not know what exactly a social network is, let me give a short definition:

A social network is a platform on the Internet through which you can interact with your friends, family and acquaintances to share interests, messages, photos, videos and applications.

We could illustrate a social network such as being in a meeting of friends in a room where that group with similar interests shares experiences, memories, news and also allows other friends to be introduced to the circle. But everything, in a virtual environment.

Hence, to be part of Facebook as a social network you only need to create a profile by identifying yourself with an email and start creating your own network of friends.

Having said that, let’s move on to the issue that concerns us.

What is the Facebook business model?
It should be said that before FB there were already other social networks such as MySpace, Hi5, orkut or tagged which already had a space earned in cyberspace and many followers. However, Facebook knew how to additionally implement an element that makes a huge difference (do you remember the concept of competitive advantages? that’s just what we’re talking about).

Of all the functionalities that FB incorporated, one of the ones that most caught my attention at the beginning and that with time I understood is the incomparable “Like” button. This button allows you to navigate through your friends’ comments and publications and at any time let that circle of friends know that you “like” something that has been said or shared.

And that way of declaring that something is to your liking suddenly became a kind of culture in which it seems addictive to know that a thought, a piece of news or a comment you post, suddenly you see that “8 of your friends like this “.

Now. The like button it seems too innocent, simple and particularly “funny” until you analyze what it really represents.

The Facebook Like Button

To understand it, let’s do an imaginative exercise and for a moment settle into the chair of the Facebook database administrators …

  • Imagine thousands of people during the day clicking the like button
  • Imagine those thousands of people clicking on comments, news, videos, photos, etc.
  • Now, imagine that Facebook people know who you are, what country you live in, your age, your profession, where you studied and where you work (since you put it on your profile).
  • In addition, they can individually associate your hobbies with your tastes.
  • They can know what music you like, what kind of news you like, events that attract you and even your political tendency
  • They can tell when a product is to your liking or not.
  • Additionally, they can see the results of the surveys that the same users publish and find invaluable information on the trends and tastes of those who respond.
  • Now imagine merging all this information …

And what do you get?
You get the perfect dream of every advertiser and Marketing Director of any company in the world. Know what consumers want. A huge, extensive, detailed, classified and real database of the likes of any individual market segment anywhere in the world. And if that weren’t enough, you get it for FREE !!!

And what do they do with that information then?
Now comes the business. While you have fun and have a good time interacting with your friends on Facebook, they get all the information related to your tastes and consumption habits. They make up the most complete market study and then sell it in the form of advertising.

For a few dollars, you can post an ad on Facebook with a text of 135 characters, which in addition to being quite inexpensive, gives you the option of testing for a few days or defining exactly how much money you want to invest. So you create your own advertising campaign and you can promote your product or services to an exceptionally focused market:

  • You can choose in which country or language you want to promote your product
  • You can choose the exact age range of who you want to see your ad
  • You can choose the times you want to be seen
  • You can choose the type of interests that you want your potential clients to have
  • You can choose the educational level of your target market

And if that were not enough, you do not pay for the advertising seen but only for those ads that have had a click. And as an added value, they monitor your campaign and provide you with impact reports so that you can optimize it. So, in this way you can have the total guarantee that your advertising will be effective. Where else could you do something like this?

Now to finish, imagine the 500 million registered FB users interacting every day and feeding that huge and valuable database. And then you can understand why there are millions of people and companies interested in promoting their business, products, services and events. That’s what i call the genius behind Facebook.

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