I am such an idiot. I was so distracted by that other ruckus involving news-feed that I missed the real reason for implementing news-feed. I knew that “we want you to know what your friends are doing blah blah” was BS, but I didn’t really examine it. Now, I realize what’s going on, and I’m kicking myself for not figuring it out a long time ago. (Note: I actually found this a bit ago, but I didn’t blog it yet.)

So, here’s the real reason:

ADVERTISING! The real reason for news-feed was to insert ads right on your front page. Bravo, facebook. What a brilliant idea. We were so distracted by our “privacy” that no one figured out what was going on. And I still don’t think anyone will really figure it out because the ads are so brilliantly designed. They’re so unobtrusive that people won’t notice them.