Google and Facebook are both companies that offer “free” services. Of course the services are not actually free — you pay for them by watching ads.
The actual paying customers here are advertisers. So in a sense, when you use Google or Facebook you are actually the product.
And yet the two companies are quite different, because the “you” who is the product is different. In the case of Facebook, “you” are a person who mainly wants to hang out, catch up with friends, maybe check out some silly posts.
In the case of Google, the “you” is a person who uses productivity tools. Web search, document sharing, appointment calendars, these are all the instruments of people who are trying to get something done.
Which means that Google and Facebook are offering their respective customers two very different products. Facebook offers to sell ads to people who are just hanging out. Google offers to sell ads to people who are trying to get something done.
I suppose this distinction is obvious on sight to anyone who sees it. But it’s still probably worth keeping in mind.
Another technical difference is, my favorite “uBlock Origin” can easily block G’s ads but not F’s – those ads are camouflaged as “friends’s” posts.
I am curious to know what you think of Shoshana Zubb’s “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism”. I just started reading it.