Facebook mining Facebook — Version 2.0
Written by Ushma Kapadia
Further to our analysis of ‘Study from Facebook’, a recent development caught our eye — Facebook launched what it refers to as a ‘market research app’ — Facebook Viewpoints.
At this stage, it sounds pretty much an extension of Facebook’s June 2019 launch of Study from Facebook. Users are invited to the app, then invited to surveys that award a set number of points. Once the user reaches a set number of points, Facebook sends x amount to the user, via PayPal.
Like its earlier counterpart, Viewpoints data is meant for improving Facebook products like Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook itself. To what extent Viewpoints works for Facebook is yet to be ascertained, given its recent launch. What is known for sure is that there is precedent set by others like Google’s Opinion Rewards app, which boasts of 1 million Google Play reviews and a 4.4 star rating. Of late, the only criticism about the app is from users who lost expired credits.
Will be interesting to see how kind (or unkind) users can get with Facebook; given ongoing loss-of-trust issues with the brand.