In order to ramp up its revenue and boost the income from mobile advertising, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has pushed the limits of privacy and will now track what apps you use on your smartphone. Using its Facebook Connect feature to track the apps, which allows you to login onto millions of websites using your Facebook ID and password.
The site then displays targeted ads to the users. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s intrusion into user privacy goes much beyond the limits of mobile-ad networks. Using your phone’s web browser, Facebook tracks what ads you click on. Though Google and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also track their users’ mobile apps, they do not track what people do on their apps. Furthermore, Apple discloses in its privacy policy that the company can target ads based on the apps people download from Apple Store and iTunes.
The Menlo Park, California-based company’s mobile advertising is entirely different from its previous methods. Earlier, the company would show a promotional content in the news feed if users gave permission by “Liking” a brand or company. Now, the new mobile advertising will show you certain targeted ads based on your activities and apps without your permission, the Wall Street Journal reported. More than half of its 900 million user access the site through mobile.
Gearing up against the new ad product, many people have stated that the company should give users ways to opt-out of the mobile ad targeting.
Facebook to Bring Its Own Job Portal
The social networking giant is inching towards becoming a job recruiter soon. According to sources, the company will pair up with BranchOut, Jobvite and Work4Labs to develop the job board. It is still unclear whether the job postings will be displayed in the news feed.
Last October, the company tied up with US Department of Labor and three other recruitment agencies to ‘help bring down the mounting unemployment rates through social media.’ After the partnership, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) added “Social Jobs” portal to the site. Facebook said it would promote the program in 10 American states with the highest unemployment rates and Puerto Rico.
However, now the story seems to have changed. Linkedin Corporation (NYSE:LNKD) has aggressively added several social networking features to grab a pie of Facebook’s market. Now it is an obvious play for Facebook to have a chunk of the $4.3 billion online job search market. Many recruiters already prefer Facebook over Linkedin Corporation. With the job board, Facebook will enter into direct competition with the likes of Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW) and Linkedin Corporation.
Most Facebook users, like to use their account to post pictures of family and friends. Linkedin.com is meant to be a professional site, akin to an online resume. It is doubtful whether users will like more invasion of their privacy on Facebook.
