Great question about data – does Facebook have more than Government?

Forrester Senior Analyst Jeremiah Owyang publishes a valuable blog, Web Strategy by Jeremiah, for anyone in the digital space.

It’s a must-read, hence making it into my blogroll. And one of his most recent posts is a classic, in which he compares the amount of data the U.S Government has on Generation Y, and compares it to the data which Facebook has access to.

And although the Government will have access to sources it won’t have publicised, and has ways to access anything if it really tries, the interesting point is that Facebook has accrued all this data by participants self-submitting it. No census, no artificial rewards, no incentive schemes, and no forcing people.

Check out Jeremiah’s insightful thoughts, and make sure you check out the comments which are normally just as informative.