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How Facebook Collects, Uses and Shares Personal Information of the People Around the Globe
CMNS 1221-001
James Rennie
Imroz Sachdeva
300305165
April,9 2020
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The advancement of technology has evolved the world that we perceive today. The world leans on technology
anywhere from routine tasks to their professional life. Almost five billion people in the world make use of the
internet; that's approximately sixty percent of the world population (Clement & Feb, "Global digital
population", 2020). As more and more people are noticing the internet as a convenient and effective apparatus,
they are using it as a primary source of communication with their friends, family, colleagues, and others who
have an identical interest. Along with this latest trend on the internet, contemporary is social media. These are
the platforms that let people organize and share content and let them take part in social networking. There are
several prominent social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, etcetera, and these
social media websites comprise three essential pillars. First are the sites and applications that let users connect.
Second is the user community, including tons of individuals like you and me that make use of these social
websites, third is sponsors(organizations) that grants these websites to advertise their products and services to a
broader market. This essay will examine several ways in which social media giant Facebook tracks and makes
use of users' data, who all they share data with, how collecting this massive chunk of data can be profitable for
them and customs and why users need to realize how these enterprises like Facebook control their personal
information.
Facebook has ample tools and technologies to gather the user's data. Starting with the first big tool that
this social media giant uses is Facebook "Like button." According to the company, "like button" is just a button
with a thumb-up sign along with the name "like'' that lets Facebook users share information. Moreover,
whenever the user presses this button, the same content displays on their friend's newsfeed as the latest story,
indeed this "like" part is valuable for sponsors. Nevertheless, Facebook controls this button to set cookies on
users’ devices through their web browser, and these small files (cookies) tracks users web information such as
online tasks, websites they are visiting, their likes, dislikes, and preference over the net and sends this
information to the Facebook database. Whenever a user revisits the website, cookies remind the website of the
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users' last visited actions and preferences. So even if an individual prefers not to use the like button, this feature
can still collect the user's data. The social giant has many software measures to save users' and non-users' data.
Including software like ubiquitous share buttons and Facebook pixel. All these features include programming
codes that collect people's data, even if they are not using the Facebook application. Let us say that an
individual who is not a member of Facebook, is surfing original sites, yet Facebook's database can gather the
person's informatics because lots of websites have implemented Facebook connect. Furthermore, the chance of
visiting these websites is considerable, and when a user visits a website that has Facebook connect, the online
activities of an individual are not only saved on that website but farther it is accumulated in the Facebook
database. Along with this, Facebook is developing fresh ways to gather user's data. One of the latest
developments includes the use of facial recognition tools embedded with artificial intelligence technology. This
facial recognition technology uses biometrics, which identifies an individual facial feature from a picture or a
video. Furthermore, this tool facilitates the tech giant to gather data about people even if they are not being
tagged in the picture or video; moreover, this feature also lets the firm collect people's biometric data which
includes fingerprints, facial patterns, etcetera. Another primary tool that Facebook uses to gather user data is
Facebook messenger application. This application provides the user with a convenient platform for direct
messaging, and besides, this messaging application is being used by Facebook for tracking the user's phone calls
and text messages. When a user downloads Facebook messenger, it asks for the privilege to access a user's
contact list and text messages, just because individuals choose not to study those long and never-ending privacy
agreements. Facebook is taking an unconscionable advantage of that by collecting the information such as their
contact list, text chat with others, user's pictures, etcetera. (Arnold 2011)
Besides collecting these varied data arrays, Facebook can use this personal information of users in a
variety of ways. This comprises, using specialized data to manipulate consumer behaviour, for example,
Facebook can use data to test customer behaviour, their searching method, and can use this knowledge to
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persuade them to purchase a product or service. Along with this Facebook makes use of data to find what are
the new trends in the market and how they can assimilate these trends in their platform to provide a better-
personalized experience to their users, for example, Facebook includes "I voted" sticker during elections so that
those who voted can share with their friends on their platform. Facebook uses information gathered from users
to provide services to sponsors and marketers. One of these services is "topic data" that help corporations to
collect their customer feedback about their product and services, and this information helps them to plan and
change their marketing strategies. For illustration, earlier businesses gathered small samples from the public to
get feedback about their products. However, working with the "topic data" technology presented by Facebook,
they can receive feedback from a broader market with diverse demographics, and they can use this information
to make necessary revisions to their product and services (Christl et al 2017).Other than this, Facebook uses the
information to enhance the safety and security of its website. Such as, they use the data collected to certify the
user's accounts and other activities taking place on their platform. Along with this, they use data to secure their
existing users from any hazardous or suspicious activity; for example, they use data to ensure that no third-party
website or application is violating their privacy rules. This social media giant also uses information for social
good. For instance, during the time natural calamities occur, it is challenging for organizations to foresee where
individuals are suffering and what resources they require. Here Facebook data plays a pivotal role as a billion
people are using Facebook, so this helps these social associations to get detailed data about those who need
resources. All the people who use Facebook have signed an agreement that allows Facebook to use and share
their data. Thus, Facebook not only uses information but also shares it with others. This includes Facebook
business partners who use their services, such as Facebook provides summary statistics and post insights to
business and page admins this includes information such as how many people viewed the post, the number of
people who shared, and how many saved the post. Along with this, Facebook also shares information with
advertisers who advertise their product or service on Facebook platforms. This information provides insights to
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advertisers regarding what are likes and preference of users in a location and how their advertisements are
performing. For example, Facebook provides information to the advertisers regarding who has viewed their
advertisement and liked it; for instance, men who like software engineering and live in Vancouver have liked
their advertisement. Other than this, Facebook shares information for research, and this can be government
research or corporate research. Such as researching public well-being, technological advancements, social
welfare and health related. After having a look at various dynamic ways in which Facebook uses and shares the
user's data. It is essential to mention that users like you and I should know how our data is being used and who
all have access to our personal information. Because leakage of confidential information becomes troublesome
for users, and I think everyone has a fundamental right to know how corporations are managing their data. To
handle this, a handful of organizations like Facebook have developed an option on their website that shows the
information a user is sharing with their website and gives them the right to decide what information they want
to disclose and which information they want to hide. (Facebook website, "Data Policy," 2020).
In the extension of how Facebook collects, controls and shares big data. It is crucial to examine big data
that is a tremendous amount of data compiled from a variety of sources and used by companies for making
informed market decisions. There are several benefits of using big data for enterprises. Some of these benefits
are using big data reduces operational cost for business, as earlier companies needed to hire people who can
spend time with people on the streets to determine their desires and preferences. Whereas now, companies can
make use of big data to figure out these trends and Patmore over, using big data tools such as Hadoop and
cloud-based analytics is a catalyst for corporations to reduce costs. Along with this, businesses use big data to
launch their latest products and services. For example, Verizon Wireless is providing a new service in the
market based on mobile data they have gathered. This service includes selling information on mobile users,
such as how many mobile devices are active in a specific location and mobile user activities. This information is
useful for companies who want to place promotions and advertisements for these users. Other than this,
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organizations are using big data for innovation and product development. Such as Amazon has gathered and
analyzed a sizable amount of customer data, and this helps them comprehend that there is expansion
opportunity in the market and his lead company to drive into the bigger market. Furthermore, they introduced
their unique service of Amazon fresh and whole food, through amazon fresh company delivers whole food at
individuals' doorstep (bidgoli, pp. 63-66). Not an only corporation, even users are deriving benefits from big
data analysis. These benefits for users or customer appears in a variety of ways such as users can have better
products and services as most of the companies today regard the customer as a 'king' and rely on big data to
analyze the customer wants, so they try to come up with customized products and service that better match the
customer demand. Thus, this helps buyers to enjoy the benefit of better products and services. Also, the use of
digital data has resulted in more frequent discount coupons and deals for consumers, as most of us received a
discount or an offer through email related to a product or service that we were researching from the last few
days or months. This is not a piece of good luck. Instead, consumers, online activities and data are being
analyzed by associations, and they come with these deals for them. Other than this, digital data collection also
supports users to safeguard their confidential information from third parties as our service providers notify us if
a third party or third person is trying to approach our private information. For illustration, Facebook sends us an
email if someone is trying to log in to our account from a device or location that is not familiar with our
account. On the other side, there are several issues of digital data collections. Commencing with the first issue
that a corporation faces is maintaining the data quality, as the organization collects digital data from several
sources, so they need to categorize data to ensure that they are only focusing on reliable data for their decisions.
Another issue that companies have with big data is keeping the data safe and secure, and as companies are
collecting a vast amount of data every single day, it becomes difficult for them to keep it secure from authorized
parties. Even the world's biggest corporations, such as Google, Facebook, are prone to these risks. Another
major problem that companies encounter with big data is not being able to convert big data into valuable
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information, this is because associations collect every type of data related to their customers, but they lack a
process that can identify the most useful information.(Liu et al 2016)
In conclusion, it must be admitted that the expansion of technology in digital data collection has
presented us with amenities that humans have never predicted. Nevertheless, as everything comes with a
positive and a terrible impact, so does the progression of big data analysis. As examined above, corporations
like Facebook are prime users of these technological methods and use several alternative technologies such as
Facebook "Like button," partner applications and websites to gather user's data and thus use and manipulate this
information to generate business intelligence. Though this contemporary age of big data has been profitable for
both businesses and consumers. However, in this wholesome process of moving one step closer to the
customers, sometimes corporations indulge in illicit activities and start exploiting the user's private information
for unethical purposes, and this puts the user's life at risk. It establishes that users need to be wise on how
corporations are handling their information, and they should not trust and share information with every third-
party website and application. Along with this, as the volume of digital frauds is speeding up, the organization
needs to adopt the juridical and ethical standards while dealing with user information.
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References
Roosendaal, A. (2011). Facebook tracks and traces everyone: Like this! Tilburg Law School Legal Studies
Research Paper Series, (03). https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1717563
This article written by Arnold Roosendaal shed light on ways in which organizations like Facebook are
collecting user’s data. And I will also be looking at some hidden ways that these companies use to track users
and their online activities.
Liu, J., Li, J., Li, W., & Wu, J. (2016). Rethinking big data: A review on the data quality and usage issues. ISPRS
journal of photogrammetry and remote sensing, 115, 134-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2015.11.006
This article shed some light on big data, its importance and benefits in research, and potential issues of big data
analysis, I will be using this article to understand several issues that companies have face in order to use big
data analysis.
Christl, W., Kopp, K., & Riechert, P. U. (2017). How companies use personal data against people. Automated
Disadvantage, Personalized Persuasion, and the Societal Ramifications of the Commercial Use of Personal
Information. Wien: Cracked Labs.
The article demonstrates the different ways in which big giants like Facebook are using their user’s data, and
how these large companies share data in between them
Bidgoli, H. (n.d.). Database systems, data warehouse and data marts. In Management Information Systems (9th
ed., pp. 63–66).
This is the topic from a book on management information system (from course CSIS 2200) chapter third, this
topic covers the new big data era, its potential benefits as well as risks and concerns associated with analyzing
and using big data for generating business intelligence.
Columbus, L. (2016, May 9). Ways in which Big Data Is Revolutionizing Marketing and Sales. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2016/05/09/ten-ways-big-data-is-revolutionizing-marketing-and-
sales/#24fa1d8121cf
This article provides useful insight on why companies are shifting towards big data analysis and why data
analysis has become this much significant for the success of an organization.
Facebook data policy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/policy.php
The Facebook website provide information how Facebook collects user’s data, ways in which they use this data
and who all they share this data with and how can user change what all information he/she shares it with the
Facebook.
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