First i described the simple nature of the business model - this is key:
There are 3 parties in the relationship.
The company, the companies users, and the companies customers. This is a critical distinction. The users are not the primary customers.
You - the user - typically thinks of yourself as the customer intuitively though, but this is not the case. You are a mere user. Advertisers (and most likely other far more nefarious actors) are the actual CUSTOMERS.
Lets keep it simple and limit to strictly advertisers for now.
Lets imagine I (the company) have a room, and it's raining outside and this room is open to the public (the users). Anyone can come in and spend as much time in this room as you like and there is no upfront cost. It's not "free" as people like to proclaim, but there is no upfront monetary exchange between me (the company) and you (the user).
Now imagine the room is a big square box, and all around the entire room is one way glass. Anyone on the outside of the room can see in, but if you're inside you would have no idea there is anyone outside watching, that can see in, and see you, and everything that you do.
This part is super insidious and exactly like the relationship that
exists within these companies, whereby you would never know their is another party involved, let alone watching and surveiling your every move. And paying to be able to do it. This is where the monetary exchange is happening.
So while you're in the room, escaping the rain, the room seems like a great product and even more so because there is no upfront cost to you. My customers are all crowded around on the outside of the room staring into the one-way glass and analyzing and assessing your every move.
So fucking creepy.
