FACEBOOK LOSING FACE

Perhaps it was inevitable. The social media giant Facebook is in trouble (again) for how user's personal data is protected or not. I have always questioned the term "social media" because these media are not really built for socialization but are built to monetize users. "Facebook has built its highly profitable social network off its users, selling advertisements based on their ages, interests and other details" (NY Times). Sure, Facebook users socialize on the platform, but they also provide mountains of data about themselves that are sold and bought and sold and bought by myriad companies to use for targeted advertising, including political uses. The recent flap involving possibly unauthorized use of personal data by Cambridge Analytica to influence voters raises many concerns by users, regulators and analysts.

I've wondered if a time would come when Facebook is no longer relevant or desirable. Could the Facebook empire come tumbling down if some new upstart offered a non-intrusive way to socialize on the internet? It could happen. What if a non-profit organization offered inexpensive subscriptions to a social media platform that did not harvest user data because it ran solely on subscription revenues and donations? There are already models for this.

Think about it, Facebook has 2.2 billion active monthly users. If Facebook charged $5 per month and guaranteed not to harvest user data (except those data needed to operate and improve the service) and never to sell or share the data, they would have an annual revenue of $132 billion. If only half that number of users paid the subscription, it would generate annual revenue of $66 billion. Does any company need more than that to operate?

I'll ask you to think about it, again. If the purpose of the "social network" Facebook is to provide a real-time service on which people can socialize, then any amount of profit is good because it keeps the doors open and provides capital for operations and improvements. If, on the other hand, the purpose of Facebook is to make as much profit as possible, then they are doing a good job now.

Here is a graphic:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/277229/facebooks-annual-revenue-and-net-income/

For 2017, Facebook had $40.653 billion in revenue, and $15.954 billion profit (net income). The majority of Facebook income is from advertising; in other words, harvesting data about you and selling it to advertisers.

So, I am looking forward to the true social network app that does not harvest user data, does not push advertising to users, and is open and transparent. I would gladly pay $5 or more per month for this service. Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is always a cost. We should not expect to get internet services for free, and we don't.

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