[WingH]

But the value of my data alone probably is worth less than a dollar to Google and Facebook. Given the choice of getting paid a dollar, or using it for free (in exchange for them using my data), I would choose the latter.

Only in aggregate is it worth a lot.

[amelius]

In that case, I would pay Google and Facebook a dollar, and keep my data safe from their prying eyes.

[WingH]

I would do that too.

But the notion of getting paid for your data, when its worth so little by itself is not appealing.

[saas_co_de]

> But the value of my data alone probably is worth less than a dollar

Calculating the value of your data is pretty easy actually. Just take the market cap of the company divided by users to get an average.

Google is at about $700B with may ~2B global users, so global average is more like $350/user. The value of US users is probably 10X less developed parts of world (based on ad rates) so US users are worth more like $3000.

You are undervaluing yourself :) which is how they win.

[marcinzm]

>Calculating the value of your data is pretty easy actually.

No it's not. You're mixing up the value of the data with the value of your attention. The world has made a killing off of advertising long before personalization came about so saying it's all due to personalization is a bit silly imho.

[deong]

It's also conflating a bunch of stuff that goes into Google's valuation that isn't directly tied to ownership of your data. Once upon a time, Google just made a search engine, and that search engine quickly took over the world. Google made a lot of money plopping ads on search results long before you could create a Google account or store all your email there. Presumably, the technical ability to build products like that is worth actual money. If Google deleted all personal data, the company would not be worth $0.

[saas_co_de]

> If Google deleted all personal data, the company would not be worth $0

They would be worth less than zero because without the personal data they would have no ad revenue to subsidize their money losing loss-leader ventures that only exist to collect data and/or suck people in to watch advertising.

[marcinzm]

Google made plenty of money from search and search advertising before personalization.

[saas_co_de]

What you search for is personal data.

The search engine is just a targeting mechanism for ads. You tell Google what you are searching for and they serve you a targeted ad. That has always been the business model.