Jay Parikh, VP of engineering for Facebook, released numbers this week showing just how big Facebook’s data is and how it benefits the social network.
“[Facebook’s] system processes 2.5 billion pieces of content and 500+ terabytes of data each day,” notes TechCrunch. “It’s pulling in 2.7 billion Like actions and 300 million photos per day, and it scans roughly 105 terabytes of data each half hour.”
Parikh says all this information helps Facebook release new products, gauge user reactions and tweak designs.
“By looking at historical data, we can validate a model before putting it into production,” Parikh says, explaining that Facebook can assess impact without actually implementing changes. “We put data in a simulation, and can see ‘will this increase CTR by X?’”
The benefits of big data are also passed on to advertisers to show how successful ads are geographically and among various demographics.
All this data encourages questions of privacy, but TechCrunch reports there are many safeguards in place. “All data access is logged so Facebook can track which workers are looking at what,” the post explains. “Only those working on building products that require data access get it, and there’s an intensive training process around acceptable use.”
“And if an employee pries where they’re not supposed to, they’re fired. Parikh stated strongly ‘We have a zero-tolerance policy.'”
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