How are the spoils divided in social media based giveaways?

Lately, a bunch of discounts/giveaways have appeared on SD most of which combine a merchant, a payment processor, and a social media company. e.g. Staples, Amex, Facebook/twitter.

The old model had a merchant providing a discount (e.g. Target coupon) or a payment paymentprocessor giving $ (e.g. Google checkout). It's pretty straightforward to understand the motivation and approach here. But the multiple player (from different industries) scenario and data-mining is quite different.

So how does this "new" approach benefit the merchant, cc company, and facebook/twitter?

My random stab would be that the merchant (say Staples) and social-media company (say fb) get to correlate/understand the demographics/likes/dislikes of those who purchase this item. CC companies (say Amex) perhaps are setting up to track credit worthiness through the facebook/twitter id

I don't understand the business side of social media and data mining. But I am hoping somebody who does will connect the dots.

[Update 04/01: Title edited]

Downside is you give up your privacy. Google/FB probably knows the real you better than anyone you know in real life.

Quote from ikonoklast : Downside is you give up your privacy. Google/FB probably knows the real you better than anyone you know in real life.

Oh no...then they must have figured out by now that my life is pretty boring.

Quote from MissyMooMoo : Oh no...then they must have figured out by now that my life is pretty boring.

Are you hinting you want cable tv down there? Will a daily newspaper suffice?

Quote from emelvee : Are you hinting you want cable tv down there? Will a daily newspaper suffice?

Newspaper would be nice. I could lay it over the cold basement floor that I sleep on.

Quote from MissyMooMoo : Newspaper would be nice. I could lay it over the cold basement floor that I sleep on.

I'm glad you pointed the potential for misuse. Cable tv it is!

Quote from emelvee : I'm glad you pointed the potential for misuse. Cable tv it is!

Yippiee! Great timing on the tv. I've been really bored ever since the voices in my head started giving me the silent treatment.

Quote from MissyMooMoo : Yippiee! Great timing on the tv. I've been really bored ever since the voices in my head started giving me the silent treatment.

You're only getting ESPN49 (24 hours of Norwegian Rules Shuffleboard) and EDHDTV (24 hours of commercials for Erectile Dysfunction in High Definition).