Advertisement

Facebook's Viewpoints research app pays you to take surveys

It appears to avoid the privacy issues of the past.

Facebook is once again offering a market research app, but this one appears to avoid some of the privacy concerns from before. The social media behemoth has introduced a Viewpoints app that pays you for completing surveys, research and other tasks that will help refine its products. Unlike Google's Opinion Rewards, you don't get the goods straight away -- instead, you earn points and automatically receive PayPal contributions whenever you reach point milestones. You don't have to worry about your rewards expiring, at least.

Not surprisingly, Facebook wants to avoid claims that it's snooping on users without their full consent. You have to be at least 18 years old to use Viewpoints, and you'll be told what information is collected and how it's used. The company also vows not to sell data to third parties or publicly share your activity without permission.

Viewpoints is only available to Facebook account holders in the US at present. It's planning to offer more registration options and expand to other countries in 2020, however. The company is clearly confident that Viewpoints will get a warm-enough reception. To some degree, it needs people to welcome the app with open arms -- if it's going to get meaningful feedback, it needs as much input as possible.