Whether we sell all of our data for more precise advertising targeting and how this is considered worrying.
A basic Internet rule is: “If you're not paying for it, you're probably the product.” A truth that really stands its ground on social media.
The Internet giants Google and Facebook collect vast amounts of data to create models from each user, which enable consumers to advertise ideally. Time of day, mood adjustment, GPS position, context in organic posts are all parameters that are measured and constantly optimized using the algorithm.
The dream of every entrepreneur! From an advertising point of view, the achievements of recent years are truly brilliant. We can advertise almost without wastage and, above all, with maximum measurability and fine-tune a campaign with so-called testing even over the course of it. From the point of view of agencies and advertisers, this is the brave new world.
However, no major technological advancement has come without a downside. And that's why we want to raise the question today: Do we sell ourselves as consumers? Our data? And isn't the urge for autonomy and anonymity just a relic of the past?
The fact is: Google and Facebook don't sell our data. They create models that give them intimate knowledge of the user and enable them to offer the advanced advertising platform of our time.
The whole thing originally came about more by mistake than through dubious intentions to rob people of their data: Tim Kendall was tasked with turning Facebook into a profitable business model in 2006, 2 years after its founding. After consideration, the advertising model simply appeared to him as the most pragmatic and sensible, as this was the only way to keep the service completely free of charge for users. On the one hand, this promised Facebook immense growth in subsequent years and formed the basis for what we now call targeting.
But there is still the question: Who is actually being harmed? Our privacy? Are we really selling ourselves? If I read the NZZ, I won't find any Snipes ads in it, isn't the model the same?
This is a moral, psychological and cultural question, and everyone must answer it for themselves. In my opinion, transparency about what happens with our data is important.
