How does Facebook make money?

Facebook is a free to use social networking platform. Its founder and CEO who is on a token salary of USD1 annual salary, Mark Zuckerberg, figured out a way to digitise social relationships. With this social networking platform he made relationships which already existed more accessible. Long lost family and friends were reunited and new relationships of like minded people also built. The network takes advantage of humanity's natural propensity to interact socially. Even companies have found a way to interact with its customers and to reach out to potential new customers.

So how does Facebook make money? We need to remember that money itself comes from users of the network but not directly because there's no joining fee or subscription to use Facebook. If the users are not the customers, they must be the product. We provide invaluable personal information that maps our preferences, habits, hobbies, important dates, anniversaries etc. This data is a treasure trove for advertisers who can target specific groups of people or individuals with specific adverts for products and services. Facebook can sell this data. After acquiring WhatsApp and Instagram they have even more data. Facebook already had the Messenger and Camera applications which were competitors to the more active WhatsApp and Instagram.