Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably noticed the explosion of data in your Facebook timeline and ticker. Especially when it comes to the data presented by third party apps such as Spotify. On the one hand, it’s been a fantastic tool for music discovery and re-discovery (in the last 30 days I’ve been reminded of tons of new tracks from my past I’d forgotten about because friends’ playlists have appeared in my timeline).
But I’ve also noticed something else interesting that’s been happening. Last week I was listening to an album by Steven Kellogg and the Sixers on Spotify. Because I’ve integrated the app with Facebook, the tracks I’m listening to are shared in my timeline. I then noticed a Facebook ad asking me to download their new album. Beyond that, I’ve been seeing ads for the Sixers’ new album follow me across the web as I read the NY Times, TechCrunch and the like.
This kind of cookie-related advertising isn’t that new. Visit any automaker’s site and inevitably you’ll see ads follow you around for that new Prius as you navigate the web. What’s interesting to me is the brave new world of data collection and recommendation engines that follow you round the web while your’e logged into Facebook. I also think some of these super-targeted ads will crossover not just from Facebook usage to the web but also originate from my behavior in using third party apps. This may be city of gold that many developers are looking for who are building apps that integrate seamlessly with Facebook because they may be able to monetize this behavioral data as well as Mr. Zucks. But I wonder if we need some more transparency regarding what types of behavioral data apps like Spotify collect and what they’re using it for. And at what point can you ‘opt out’ for data collection? Should you be able to? After all – the sites and services we’re using provide us with some amazing opportunities to connect and consume media. For Free. So if you don’t know what their ‘product’ is – then you’re the product (thanks to Joe Romanelli for sharing the cartoon).
So I’m curious – do any of you take issue with the sheer amounts of data that is being collected or are you happy that it ends up in serving your more relevant content and ads as the price you pay for free service? Or are you fine with your data being the ‘price of admission’ to use many free services? Does anyone know what the policies of 3rd party Facebook integrated apps are, and how they use your behavioral data? Fire away in the comments.
This is a really important issue I spend a lot of time thinking about. On one hand, I really love free software and get a kick out of specialized ads and predictive services; However I do worry that my whole life is being tracked and stored, it’s a little off putting.
I’ll reiterate my feelings from my G+ comment:
I’m torn between convenience and the feeling “I have nothing to hide, what could go wrong?” and the other-me pointing out these people are not my friends and I have ample reason to mistrust them (especially those in authority over me).
All I’d need is some squarehead with an anti-guy-earring fetish to get a hard-on about setting me up for a fall. Disaster is that simple a thing away when that much power is in someone’s hands.
This might be a bit of a sidebar but……I recently read an article about how Walmart will in the near future use Facebook and Twitter to understand local markets better. For instance if the local twitter/FB conversation is largely about hiking and the great outdoors Wally World will stock shelves in that area accordingly. There was also talk of incorporating the smart phone more into the shopping experience by allowing you to scan an item and get a list of “friends” that have also purchased the item. Not sure how I feel about it. It’s a little science-fiction-esq. Like in Minority Report when Tom Cruise walks into The Gap and upon eye scan an automated response welcomes him to the store by name and asks him if he’s back for another pair of Men’s Slim Boot Cut jeans..or whatever. I don’t think we’re too far from this. Sorry for the rant….It’s just interesting to me.
Jon,
Do you worry about the data collection itself or that it somehow isn’t as ‘anonymized’ as these services claim to be? I think I’d be more ok with the data collection if I had a transparent readout (Facebook is starting to do this) of everything they have on me – AND the opportunity to delete it (like emptying cookies).
Mark,
I do think the ‘Trust, but (try to) verify’ is a decent mantra to have. Hate the idea of reading all the TOS agreements but they should lay some of what they collect out there. Maybe TOS is the new version of the long credit card agreement we have to sign.
To your other point – yes, I think there is a short distance between openness and character assassination. We see it a lot with online bullying. Fortunately I’ve not been on the receiving end of any major online or personal attacks.
Ryan,
Good read. I’m on the fence with all of this as well. I like the idea that advertisers can target me based on my preferences/cookies, same idea we’re pitching in print (don’t print the entire catalog, just send them what they’re interested in)…but I’d rather be able to have a “personal data vault service that helps consumers find, manage and capitalize on the data trails they create. It’s like an agent for your digital celebrity self”
http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/personal-data-oil/230932/
Lizard…Loved minority report, and I think this will happen, except maybe not the eye surgery in someones house!
Which is why I have backed away from Facebook and social media in general. Wrong thing happen politically, in the Orwellian sense, and who gets lined up in the football stadium for “re-eduction” by machine gun. Don’t say it won’t happen. Germans didn’t think 1939 would happen either.
i atacully think i atacully think the new stuff they’re rolling out with is pretty cool, they’re innovating facebook, breathing new life into it. there is a function to determine what updates you receive so i dont know what people are about, people just like to complain for the sake of it, and i guarantee you these people will carry on using facebook Was this answer helpful?