It All Ads Up

Do you ever wonder why all these free online services are available to you? Some are run by hobbyists, but many popular sites are clearly in it for profit. Well, OK, that's the American Way. But isn't it a little unsettling when you can't even figure out how a site is profiting from your looking at it?

Take Buzzfeed, for example. It creates all those fun (and free) little quizzes that many people take. But what is Buzzfeed getting out of it? Information about you. NPR reports.

Here is a CNN article that discusses the numerous ways that we are mined for personal data.

Questions...

•What quizzes have you taken?

•What might the quiz answers learn about us?

•Do we typically recognize these quizzes as advertising research?