Facebook Looking to Cash In on Its Friends

Facebook will create one of the world’s largest market research databases in an attempt to profit from the personal information it collects from its 150 million members, the Telegraph reports. The social networking site’s new instant polling tool, which will enable companies to target specially selected users, was introduced last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“I had tons of people saying, ‘This could be so incredible for our business,’” recalled the company’s global markets director, adding that execs “liked the instant responses.” Facebook, which has been trying to revise its image as the online hangout of students, was once valued at $15 billion, but one analyst, referencing the recession, called the figure “exaggerated.”
(More Facebook stories.)