5 Reasons Why Social Media will Never Be Your Friend

You can run but you can't hide. Big Data mining by social media has been happening for years - and we all knew it. While Governments try to impose limitations, the real threat to your data security is you.

Who are we kidding? The idea that your data has been used for targeted marketing and psychographic segmentation for years is not news. The extent to which it has been used in recent times may be surprising to some, shocking even, but not news. The fact is Martech and customer segmentation through data and AI will not stop but flourish over the next few years to deliver more personalized services, ads and experiences. Despite predictions that such rich data exploitation will be ended by new laws like GDPR and the ePrivacy initiative, I say: forget it. Because, Technology.

Here’s how:

1. Algorithms. social platforms already have your information and it won’t be excised overnight. Your profile is already baked into the formula. Even if your profile is erased, your ranking will remain in some form. Take Tinder for example. We will give up the right to privacy of our expressed interest to get the best result. Makes sense, right? Indeed, Ad performance metrics and interest-based advertising will simply use other technologies - predictive behavioural analytics - based on a smaller, voluntary data set.

2. Facial recognition. We can tell if you are happy, sad, indifferent or mad. We can tell if you like a video or experience and sign you up for another. And we will do just that. Marketers will measure your response with heat mapping and "likes" expressed on various social platforms and factor it into algorithms by type. It may not store your name or face, but it will still know what you want.

3. Sharing. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, author Neil Postman wrote,

“Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.” 

We will continue to do so – with as much as 50% of shared content in video format by 2019. We will advertise with video and get you hooked on content. And you will share it willingly. At least, your kids will.

4. Personal Assistants. When you sign up for a digital PA, she will ask to store your preferences. Those preferences – or relationships – with Uber, Amazon, Netjets, United, The Weather channel, Equinox, Netflix and Net-a-Porter – will all be owned by your PA. She will effectively own you.

5. Opt-Ins. We expect the internet to be fast and free. So we want our news to be readily available. When our friends post something astonishing, beautiful, extraordinary or just plain silly – we want in on the joke. Because we are working longer hours, with fewer interpersonal relations throughout the day. Because our tablets and phones are becoming our best friends.

Like best friends, content and service providers know everything about us and, as much as we love them, there are some things we are willing to overlook. 

The concept of "Surveillance Capitalism" was developed years ago as the phenomenon by which users trade in their data in return for free services. For some, new laws such as the UK data protection or "GDPR" presents “a real chance to renegotiate the terms of engagement between people, their data, and the company,” rather than mindlessly clicking away a terms-of-service agreement, says David Carroll, associate professor of media design at The New School.

Many of us who use technology to design custom marketing experiences are undeterred. It will be relatively easy to demonstrate that we are acting on behalf of our companies "legitimate interests" and engaging in "direct marketing" practices. These concepts will be even more convoluted as services and technologies become more integrated.

In short: privacy is an illusion and has been for some time. Marketers will use advances in technology to get around laws and find ways to seduce you. Pandora's box is open. It's too late to close it now.

=============================================================================About the Author:

Catherine D. Henry is an expert in Emerging Tech Marketing and Strategic Innovation design. An avid Futurist, she analyzes trends to predict the social response to the stimuli of new technologies, their applications across industries and how they can best be integrated and commercialised to their full potential.

She holds an MA in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and MBA in Marketing from the SDA Bocconi School of Management, and VR and Immersive filmmaking at the NY Film Academy, and Digital Marketing from the New School, NY.

For more information and updates, please follow us on facebook and Twitter @PalpableMedia

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Tags: #CambridgeAnalytica #ElectionTampering #DataProtection #Privacy #PersonalAssistants #Siri #Alexa #Martech #Facebook #Google