An Adventure with Facebook and Psychographics

            While on Twitter, I noticed that my professor tweeted an article with Facebook in the title.  Me being me, I was instantly interested.  I find Facebook to be quite interesting.  People post many different things on Facebook (some of which they really shouldn't), and don't necessarily realize where else that information is going besides their friends' newsfeeds.

            Social media in general has gotten a lot of press regarding allowing what employers see from your profile.  Not many people are aware that Facebook is aware of what brands, companies, and products you are liking, and informing marketers of what else to advertise to you.  This is the premise of "psychographics".  

            "They can target based on interests and lifestyles instead of just what is on their mind at the moment."  From a company standpoint, this can be great for marketing towards exactly what the consumer wants.  But from a consumer standpoint, this can be considered a bit creepy.  I'm not sure I want Facebook making decisions for me on what exactly I might be interested in regarding what things I have "liked" on the site.  I realize there is a benefit to it, but it is a little bit too Big Brother to me.

            The article also touches on the point that Facebook might be feeding this information they are currently gathering to other sites in the future.  This would be a great money maker for Facebook, but it teeters on the line of sharing some information that Facebook users may not be comfortable sharing with marketers.

            As a marketing student that is also a consumer, it is hard to take a definitive stance on the subject, although I am leaning towards keeping my privacy.  We'll see if that changes as I go further in my career and society becomes more open...