I have been talking about the internet with my real world mega savvy brother, and discussing the valuations of various applications such as the obvious Facebook and Twitter. To him they have no obvious value, and he may well be right 😉 but to put it into context he wanted to know why people offer free apps and what do they get out of investing their time and work from it?
Data is dull. Gold is obvious and shiny, a bit tarty even… And yet mine a little deeper and the decorative gold is static and decorative but data grows and morphs and can be manipulated in many ways.
The hidden value is in the successful and refined targeting of online advertising.
Whilst the data that you think may be worthless, posting about inanities on Facebook, just means you are gonna get spammed with inane products!
( OMG what does that say about my feeds given the eclectic state of my spam – the new KPI is the quality of spam you receive? )
All data has a value when aggregated on a massive scale, allowing advertisers to closely aim for the group that will buy into their product/service hence all data has a value, not just your bank account details and postal addresses!
A Virtual Tourist 