Social media giant Facebook will today launch a new market research app called Viewpoints.
Just a few months ago, the company had rolled out Study, an Android data collection app designed to monitor what and for how long users are accessing other software on the Google-owned operating system.
Both apps have historically been engulfed in controversies. Earlier this year, Facebook shut down a market research app ostensibly offered as a virtual private network (VPN) provider. The app was targeted at teens and used a special software certificate Apple gives out to businesses, designed mainly to allow the distribution of internal apps to employees, but not the public.
Facebook’s market research apps have in the past violated Apple’s privacy rules.
According to The Verge, Facebook, however, was using it to install software on the phones of teenagers and other survey participants to collect data the company otherwise couldn’t ask for using its primary iOS apps. The app would have been in violation of Apple’s rules for the App Store, but Facebook was using an Apple-provided enterprise certificate to distribute the software outside the standard iOS model. Apple pulled the company’s enterprise privileges for violating the rules, and Facebook shut down the app, called Facebook Research VPN, to appease the iPhone maker. Facebook last year shut down a similar VPN app, called Onavo Protect after Apple said it violated the standard App Store data collection rules.
Facebook’s research ventures, however, now live on in Viewpoints and Study. Facebook can’t peer into how a user uses third-party app with Viewpoints, it only gives participants or users rewards for filling out surveys, testing new products, and more.
According to Facebook, the first survey that’s available is the “Well-Being Survey,” and TechCrunch says that the survey will take about 15 minutes and earn you 1000 “points,” which apparently translates to $5 that will be paid to you over PayPal.
Also, noteworthy is that Viewpoints is only open to people 18 and older in the US with Facebook accounts.
Facebook has also revealed it is looking for additional ways to expand the program to other countries next year.
The company also vowed not to share information from the app to third parties or share users’ Facebook Viewpoints activity on Facebook.
