Privacy

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Road to a Trillion.

June 2, 2010 in Marketing | 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago it was mentioned here that in order for Facebook to become the world’s first trillion dollar company it had to nail the privacy issue. Well, my fact-checker has determined that with the world’s largest company, Royal Dutch Petroleum (Forbes 2009) worth less than half a trillion dollars and only 6.8 billion people on the planet, the trillion dollar company thing is a pretty far reach. 

Bah, fact-checker. If Facebook can get everyone on the planet to fork over $147 U.S. they can do it.  One way to get to this number is to offer Facebook users an opt-in paid for account that is completely private.  No ads for tracking. No sale of collected personal data. No cookies. Like Ocean Beach, NY back in the day – the proverbial land of “no.” 

For $147.00 a year, Facebook actually might start themselves on the road to a trillion. Every journey begins with one schlep.  Or was that step? Peace.    

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Privacy huh?

June 1, 2010 in Privacy | 0 Comments

What’s the life expectancy of a single 55 year-old man who buys a 16 oz jar of hi-test mayo every 2 weeks along with his weekly ration of 3 steaks, 2 sticks of salted butter, 4 cans of beans, lb. of baloney, a box of microwave Orville Redenbacher, 30-pack of Bud Light and a carton of smokes?  Good question.  If you were said man’s insurance company this info might be worth a million dollars.  If you were the HR person at a company thinking about hiring this gentleman, it might be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Purchase price for that that data? Probably pennies.

Privacy huh.  As more and more personal information is collected about buyers and sellers, marketers are being offered toolsets that help them sell more efficiently. More predictably. More accurately. It can be a good thing –but needs monitoring.   I’m no card carrying member of the Electronic Freedom Foundation but I do believe in their work.  I also think that the EFF and others like them will be playing a huge role in our lives over the next 20 years.  Were they offering a stock, I’d say buy.  Privacy is going to be very big business…because the lack of privacy already is. Peace!  

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Opt-In Vs. Opt-Out.

May 13, 2010 in Privacy | 0 Comments

It was fascinating to learn that Facebook’s privacy policy is 1,000 words longer then the U.S. Constitution. It seems nation-building back in the day was easier than signing up for a social network today. The average novel is 80,000 words; the Facebook privacy policy is close to 6,000 words. They want us to read a bit less than 10% of a book to sign up. 

I’m guessing only about 1% of the population has ever read a Terms and Conditions or privacy policy document and that percent probably passed the bar. (I was once responsible for Ts and Cs at a company and it was truly an exercise in plagiarism, with a lateral to a lawyer.)

Privacy policy needs to be opt-in, not opt-out.  That is, users must click with whom and what they want shared. A manual Opt-In selection.  This makes it so everything starts out as private and users and info to be shared must be selected. Right now everything is pre-set for share and you must deselect. Opt-Out. The Op-In approach will likely make advertising and data sale more effective and targeted. Of course, there will have to be incentives built in, but that’s the way it goes.

As I said in a post a couple of days ago, the decisions Facebook makes today on privacy will determine if they become the world’s first trillion dollar company. No pressure there. Hee hee. Peace!

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It’s called private for a reason.

September 25, 2007 in Marketing | 0 Comments

There is a digital phone company out there, the name of which escapes me, that will serve up ads based upon the content of your phone conversation. If you are talking about going to a movie on your “celly,” when the call completes you might have a movie ad poop (sic) up on your screen. 

 
This is going a little too far. Even for Advertising Week.
 
What’s next? In-home audio surveillance to drive direct mail programs? Garbage truck scanners that spit out coupons? An chip in your EZ Pass that reports shopping center propensities?
 
Privacy (I love the way the Brits say it) is going to be a major, major issue in a year or two. It’s only a matter of time before some bonehead company oversteps its bounds, and brings down the wrath of consumers and advocates.
 
I smell a bonehead.
 

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