Jennifer Grygiel on how much our data is worth to Facebook

Jennifer Grygiel, assistant professor of communications at Newhouse, was interviewed by Money magazine about the value that users bring to Facebook. F

acebook profits off of its 1.4 billion daily users in a big way: According to its most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the average revenue per user in 2017 was $20.21 ($6.18 in the fourth quarter alone). Users in the U.S. and Canada were worth even more because of how big the markets are.

“They don’t charge for Facebook, but they are able to sell insights based on how we use the platform and then serve it up for marketers,” says Jennifer M. Grygiel, an assistant professor of communications and social media expert at Syracuse University. “It sounds kind of simple, but the marketers are willing to strategically place advertisements, from selling sneakers to ads for politics.”