Facebook and other social media have become widely spread all over the world. Nowadays, the usage of social media allows investors to monetize their content, using different sampling methods and targeting their advertisements. Facebook rivals the number of people watching TV, so its content extends to different age groups, which means that social media may be a convenient platform for promoting companies’ products and offers. However, data analysis of the potential customers may lead to ethical issues since social networks’ algorithms track any activity of their users.
Facebook algorithms use different sampling methods, such as stratified sampling, which allows them to divide its users into specific age groups. Saba (2014) argues that although Facebook’s main audience ranges from 45-to-64-year-old Americans, the survey results suggest marketers still view Facebook’s social network as an important channel for reaching teenagers. To engage different age groups and attract more customers, global companies target their advertisements among both TV streams and users’ Facebook feeds news to increase the reach of their ads among adults as well as teenagers.
The statistic shows that Facebook may be an ideal platform to draw customers’ attention. Facebook has 1.39 billion active users visiting the website per month, and 92% of global companies have chosen Facebook as a marketing tool, which helps Facebook reach the level of revenue of 12.7 billion in 2014 (Tran, 2017). However, analysis of the potential customers’ database may lead to some ethical issues. It has been suggested that ‘the settings are intentionally designed to increase the potential to exploit personal data for profit since information restricted from public view online has a higher sales value’ (Willis, 2017). Therefore, clients’ private data may be violated, whereas companies are seeking ways to increase the coverage of their audience. Although Facebook may be a gainful marketing tool as it is less expensive, companies still use users’ data to target their advertisements.
References
Saba, J. R. (2014). Facebook targeting market segments within its network of over 1B user. Hashtag. GMA News Online.
Tran, T. P. (2017). Personalized ads on Facebook: An effective marketing tool for online marketers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 39, 230–242.
Willis, R. (2017). Observations online: Finding the ethical boundaries of Facebook research. Research Ethics, 15(1), 1–17.