> ... my point is that people pick on Facebook for privacy concerns but we all know it's an advertising company ...
More accurately, it's a surveillance company (with some behavioral testing and manipulation as well), and ads are just the best way to monetize information for now. As ad blockers and banner blindness become more common, they'll find another, probably worse, way to monetize that information, like pre-interview employee screening or pseudo-credit-scores.
Also, unlike Google, which at least built an innovative search engine back in the day (remember Lycos, Alta Vista, and "portals?"), I can't think of anything particularly novel or valuable created by Facebook.
More accurately, it's a surveillance company (with some behavioral testing and manipulation as well), and ads are just the best way to monetize information for now. As ad blockers and banner blindness become more common, they'll find another, probably worse, way to monetize that information, like pre-interview employee screening or pseudo-credit-scores.
Also, unlike Google, which at least built an innovative search engine back in the day (remember Lycos, Alta Vista, and "portals?"), I can't think of anything particularly novel or valuable created by Facebook.