[sfall]

ok facebook may not know if your left handed, unless your in a left handed appreciation group, but think about all the information facebook does collect on you.

where you or others check in, likes, people you chat with, what you chat about, who tags you in posts and photos and who your with, not to mention all the tracking facebook does with other sites

[shock-value]

Well, it remains to be seen whether that data can actually generate revenue. I personally don't think it has much potential, at least not compared to the extremely specific data Google has on everyone, or the purchasing data that Amazon possesses.

Also, I just don't think people use Facebook the way you describe. Most people I know don't "check in" wherever they go, nor do they "like" different brands (except for ones that make them do so in order to be eligible for a contest or something sketchy like that--I've definitely seen that before). But people do search on Google for anything and everything, including purchasing decisions. And of course people do make real purchases on Amazon.

The widgets that Facebook litters over the web which it can use to track user's browsing habits may be the wild card here, but I'm still skeptical that this has that much value compared to Google's search data. Plus those widgets seem to be mostly limited to news sites anyway.

[willyt]

What can they sell me based on the fact that I just liked someones wedding photo / baby picture / witty comment? I like my friends businesses and other local peoples businesses on Facebook because I want them to do well. I've never gone on to Facebook to like a business because a transaction went smoothly. I think that's weird and think my friends would too when they see it on some feed.