Andrew Davis' Blog
The Naive User and The Commercial World
(October 2010)
How much of yourself are you prepared to give away on the internet, especially on Facebook? Does the idea of having everything you type in public analysed and used by a third party make you feel a little uncomfortable?
There is a real and completely acceptable fear when it comes to privacy and the internet, particularly Facebook. This fear is not helped when the media carries endless "Facebook is using your details for evil and to destroy the world" type reports. But what rarely gets reported is one of the main reasons why Facebook, and other social media sites, care so much about your details: the lucrative market of Micro-Targeted Advertising.
Micro Targeted Advertising means targeting you with adverts according to the interests that you post online. If you talk about being a football fan then don't be surprised if a high percentage of adverts you see are geared towards football and sport. With this information Facebook, and others, can be very specific to whom they target adverts, i.e. they can find how many 58 year old married women from Kent like Come Dine With Me & the Wu Tang Clan.
Not many users realise this and happily broadcast their lives on Facebook from the moment they sign up. The unknown can be scary, and traditional media do not seem to be interested in pointing out some of the benefits from this data. For it can be very time-saving to be informed of , for example, teaching resources, book titles and tempting money-saving offers gleaned from the English subject interests you display. Please don't get me wrong, I am not a supporter of giving away your information so big brother can keep an eye on you. It is important to be aware about what you are putting up on the world’s largest archive. Every bit of information you type is another way that you can be found, good or bad and Facebook and other sites will encourage you to put up as much data for a number of reasons including Micro Targeted Advertising.
Being this specific can be a marketer’s dream and saves a lot of money on wasted eyeballs. Google built their business using this smart new way of advertising. To see this in action yourself try this simple example:
- Log into your Facebook account
- Click on “create an advert”
- Design your advert: URL, Title and Text (maybe image)
- On the right hand side of the page you will notice a figure (around 24 million). This figure represents the number of people in the UK who are on Facebook over the age of 18.
- Target with keywords, sex, location, age and more and watch this figure vary
By doing this you can see how many people your advert can target. By picking keywords and age etc you can get exact figures rather than estimates. Compare this to an advert for a new car during Coronation Street – you might find over 70% of the audience are not interested in a new car, let alone that particular brand of car.
Privacy is a huge issue and there are a number of helpful resources that can help you understand this better. A recent change in privacy was announced on September 1st where new rules for ads on sites are being enforced in March 2011. This will further protect consumers.
Be careful with what private information you put on a public site but do not let it stop you getting involved. You still have control over what you put up about yourself. And by being aware and sensible you can find many relevant offers and information whilst maintaining your privacy.
Andrew Davis