Comments on: The State of the Art III: Facebook (and 500px and Flickr) as a Window Into Social Media https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/23/the-state-of-the-art-iii-facebook-and-500px-and-flickr-as-a-window-into-social-media/ Culture, Politics, Academia and Other Shiny Objects Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:51:23 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.15 By: Ben Sizer https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/23/the-state-of-the-art-iii-facebook-and-500px-and-flickr-as-a-window-into-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-40822 Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:51:23 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=2218#comment-40822 You have underestimated how useful some of Facebook’s data is. There are many brands, hobbies, interests, and activities which have no significant existing networks to speak of and certainly have no usable “existing sources of social and demographic data”.

For example, I’m a musician, and I may want to advertise to fans of bands similar to my own. I can think of other place, online or offline, where I can target such an ad anywhere near as effectively as I could on Facebook.

How much that is worth to a 3rd party or investor, I couldn’t say – but there is definite value there.

]]> By: Dan Miller https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/23/the-state-of-the-art-iii-facebook-and-500px-and-flickr-as-a-window-into-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-40199 Sun, 27 Jan 2013 00:55:29 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=2218#comment-40199 Like Peter, I think you’re underestimating the marketing value of the social graph. Very few people actually bowl alone, so it makes sense for a bowling alley to try and sell to an entire group of friends at once. I’d bet that a substantial fraction of all decisions on what entertainment to consume are made collaboratively.

]]> By: peter https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/23/the-state-of-the-art-iii-facebook-and-500px-and-flickr-as-a-window-into-social-media/comment-page-1/#comment-39990 Sat, 26 Jan 2013 20:27:02 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=2218#comment-39990 Au contraire, marketers of most products and services DO want to know about the social networks of their actual and potential customers. This is because almost all goods, even so-called commodities, are subject to fashions in purchasing – what economists call network effects. People buy things in part or completely because others in their social network have, or wish to, or are perceived to wish to. Consumption is always partly social, even for commodities like coal. I have blogged about this topic here:

http://www.vukutu.com/blog/2008/03/the-network-is-the-consumer/

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