Education
Targeting memes with personal data (i.e., Facebook reactions) has been suggested as Cambridge Analytica's low cost "support strategy" for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Brands can use the same or similar tools; in this episode I talk with researcher and personal data entrepreneur Paul Dehaye about data privacy, using memes to "collect" and "share" segments of consumers and the monetization of personal data. Data About You Dr. Paul Dehaye wants to liberate (for your benefit) data accululated when brands track your online activities - @hhawk Anonymous Pamphleteers Digital marketing tools used to sell branded products are also used in Elections. Policies that protect political speech, including "anonymous pamphleteers," (link) can also be used to subvert elections. They say they don't keep that data - Paul Dehaye Anonymous Tracking Policies enacted to protect consumer privacy may also be making it hard for consumers to learn how they are being tracked, monitored, and segmented. Whither Data Privacy? It might seem like the primary goal of data privacy is to keep your information safely in your own hands. Companies "enhance" your personal data and then horde it - @hhawk The reality is that businesses buy and sell your personal data. Then they segment, cluster, and augment your data with historical and real time information. They hide what they know about you - @hhawk The same laws that protect personal data from hackers (and illegal use) also make it hard to discover what large social networks know about you, how they know it, and where the information was found. #Facebook forced to disclose more information about its ad targeting by @podehaye https://t.co/XnQNl4eeiT #adtech pic.twitter.com/v5HgIbjpSz — Marcus Sarmento (@msarmento42) February 19, 2017 Innertrends: Analytics in RL A few weeks ago I spoke with Claudiu Maraiu (co-founder & CEO) of the SAAS analytics company Innertrends. Claudiu and I spoke about the ubiquity of tracking and monitoring of consumers. Claudiu took a clear stand that the industry (and our society) has an ethical dilemma it needs to resolve in RL, Real Life. I played Claudiu's observations for Dr. Dehaye hoping that he would be in agreement; (spoiler alert) he was. Paul and I did a "deep dive" on privacy and tracking - @hhawk Marketing - A Force for Good I truly believe that marketing can be a force for good and as beneficial to society as any other profession. What Facebook Advertisers knows about me and the brands I interact with (Harry Hawk) Minimalist Shopping There are many (on the right and left) who view consumerism and corporate commercialism as scourge. Yes... we could live in a world with 1 brand of toothpaste, soap, candy, coffee, computers, phones, cars, a single restaurant chain and (for Americans and Swiss) 1 brand of guns. It may be more efficient and even cheaper since presumably there would be billions saved in marketing and advertising. It might also mess up the economy killing off innovation and freedom - @hhawk Consumer Choice I understand the backlash against consumer choice and 100 brands of coffee, and 15 types of Oreos - @hhawk Freedom to Shop Marketing doesn't always encourage us to listen to our "better angels" - @hhawk I want to be able to pick my own music, food, movies, and mate - @hhawk Modern Marketing: 1:1 Tracking Modern marketing requires tracking, monitoring and more. The real question is how do we ethically address these issues. [Spoiler Alert] Paul has a plan - PersonalData.IO Marketers and market data companies do want to know what you like or love - but they also want to know what or whom you hate. Global Issue The larger issue here is bigger than stores tracking your visit their web pages; they can also track folks who visit their web pages and drive past their physical locations Modern marketing tools are being used in elections @hhawk Push Memes