Site-Wide Activity

Hey Andrea,

I remember going to a big conference and checking in took hours. I got up to the table and saw they had a stack of papers with everyone’s name on it and they were just highlighting us off as we came, so annoying! I like this AI solution, it’s simplistic but very effective and honestly important to the experience of everyone attending the event. Thanks for sharing!

All evidence is that the opt-in range is driven in many ways by the content. Opt-in can be universal, but for most it’s likely “partner by partner”.

Gaming in particular offers a serious incentive to use ads to get upgrades rather than pay-for-play. In those cases, 30-40% of users are reported to opt in. Is this a harbinger for the challenges other developers or services will face?

Apple’s IDFA changes are already changing game design and monetization

iOS 14 Opt-in-Rate Is Higher for Mobile Games

As for why, 4% overall seems like a fair proxy for the share of people who just “don’t care”, at least enough to read what they’re agreeing to.

This is why I’m emphasizing 1P data as such a big part of marketer’s future. I just don’t see a viable environment where we all just let whoever wants it have our data. It’s likely to be shared, in pieces, to various parents. The ability of 1P brand to “share” data with another to see how who they know aligns with who they know seems more viable, or at least easier for people to monitor.

Wow 4%? Seems pretty low on a percentage scale, however it has me wondering the why the 4% opted in the first place (and wish there was a way to find out). BTW Kathryn, you had me at SCRATCH AND SNIFF!!!! Did this really happen? Because i would love to see this type of credit card offer!!!!

When I get the prompt, “Do you want to help us make technology work better,” I almost want to laugh. My answer is always no. They’re doing just fine updating technology without the help of my personal information. Where does all this end? I am no longer interested in receiving updates from companies either. I find that if I want to learn about something I can on my own terms.

Before starting this class, I accepted without thinking twice. I’m assuming the 4% are those who just really don’t know or care, but I’d bet they are not intentionally opting in for contribution’s sake, lol. The percentage about gamers makes sense and I find troublesome as games already exploit addiction and now this is taking it to the next step – with the realization that the gamers are such feins they’ll say yeah, sure whatever, just let me in.
And how many parents are aware enough to ensure that their children informed. Ugh. In the meantime:
https://www.theverge.com/22403523/ios-14-5-tracking-consent-app-transparency-how-to

Thanks for the thoughts Kathryn! It’s funny because I’ve started to agree with your mindset about opting-in; I used to opt out of everything and anything, and would unsubscribe with the first annoying email. But since this class and maybe my most recent job position has me much more curious about the marketing and advertising tactics being used by others. To be honest, I may have been one of those people that have opted in because I happen to enjoy targeted ads. Maybe it is because I can always tell an ad from organic feed, that I can appreciate the marketing tactics it took to get, and I doubly appreciate it if it is actually relevant to my life, and triply if it is actually appealing. I’ve clicked on more ads in recent years than ever because the targeting is so good, that I get ads for actual things I need!

I prefer shopping online and I have certain stores fixed where I know my size and can get the right fit. Sometimes it’s harder to imagine an outfit in my head and I do wish there was an option to virtually try it. However, I would feel somewhat uncomfortable if I had to upload a picture or turn on a camera to make that happen. When it comes to stores using this technology I think it might be beneficial for times when the stores are crowded (Black Friday or holidays in general). People tend to avoid fitting rooms if the lines are long or just because they are bored trying on clothes. If you try on the clothes you are more likely to buy them. For stores looking to increase their in-store sales, it can prove to be a useful investment. When shopping online the website gives you recommendations for similar items. If the respective store apps showed recommendations when you scanned instore items it would be useful for shoppers to see/order items from their phones.

Hi Samantha,
Whenever I don’t have to go to the store and wait in a line is a WIN for me. I get so much anxiety going into a store and trying to figure out what outfit looks good on me. I hate going to an actual store and shopping now a days when I can easily do it online. I like the idea of being able to try on an outfit from home. That is such a cool AI technology that I think a lot of stores should have, especially now in COVID times. This is a great way for stores to build their customer experience and I am all for this. I have never heard or seen something like this in any of the retail stores by me but I would love to see it makes it way here.
Great Post!

Hi Samantha, since my final project group is tackling Forever 21’s mistakes, your post is super interesting. Also, my previous segment and targeting case assignment focused on Abercrombie & Fitch and how they can improve both their in-store experience as well as their digital presence to better target generation Z customers who show preferences for both types of shopping. You mentioned the smart mirror sensors, which was mentioned as part of an enhanced experience Abercrombie & Fitch stores are planning to implement in the UK. to draw in younger, more tech-savvy consumers. Consumers today, and not just young consumers, expect technology to be an option and for it to save them time or effort. IoT in retail seems like the only solution to meet that expectation for consumers.

Hey Arpana,

I am not going to lie, I love the telehealth option at my doctor’s office. It makes it so much more convenient for me to get a doctor’s appointment since I work a full-time job and I can never get to the office before 5 o’clock. When I had a sore throat this one time, I had a televisit, and I could actually pout my camera up to my mouth and they could see that my tonsils were inflamed and called me in medicine, and I could do this appointment on my lunch break. loT devices are going to make it a huge introduction to the telehealth world, and I am all for it. I do not agree with you on the HIPPA compliances because you are still talking to your doctor, its not like you are speaking to some stranger on the street. You still have that doctor, patient confidentiality aspect. I think that especially in a world of COVID these AI technologies will have a beneficial impact on our health systems.

Great Post!

My hot take is that this is a “good thing”.

The issue to me is that the echo chambers were allowed to form in the main platforms. “Free speech” applies primarily to public platforms, as I understand it. Commercial entities are freer to regulate what they deem acceptable and no one has a “right” to access a commercial platform (as I see it).

The danger as I saw with content on the “main” platforms is how easy it leaked (or was optimized) into random people’s streams because they were (however distantly) associated with people who found it “relevant”.

The challenge with moderating any content is that users are smart and will adapt their language to parallel norms or similar “code” if pressured with moderation.

By splintering the network, in many ways it could dilute the effect of the content. Niche message boards, etc. always existed, but they weren’t directly connected to the hives of all our other conversations. This naturally limited their growth as discoverability and accessibility were more cumbersome.

Facebook is “powerful” because of its scale. Gab, GETTR, TRUTH or whatever the liberal/progressive equivalent might be will never rival Facebook in size simply because they’re intentionally designed to appeal to a niche population and (more than likely) the nature of the conversations will deter many from joining. This is, of course, ignoring the factionalism that will no doubt form between audiences on similar platforms (Gab vs. GETTR vs. TRUTH, etc.).. You could be on all platforms, but outside journalists, celebrities and super users, most people don’t seem to have the energy or desire to nurture infinite accounts.

If the conversation moves off Twitter or Facebook and becomes “contained” on a niche platform, on any topic, do you agree the effect could be diluted?

Of course, such a network needs to exist and scale first. In our day and age, that’s no sure thing as fates can change quickly (see Parler). An app doesn’t exist on its own and needs many business partners to host and sustain it. In the case of TRUTH, the collaborative nature of the Internet may well present obstacles they did not anticipate.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/22/22740354/trump-truth-social-network-spac-mastodon-license-software-freedom-conservancy

I share your concerns that niche social media platforms like TRUTH could exacerbate the echo chamber problem, but at the same time, are the people who join fringe channels open to hearing the other side anyway? I think Greg makes a great point that there are limits to how impactful a non-major social platform can be.
I also don’t think TRUTH is likely to take off. Trump’s blog lasted 29 days, and the reasons given were that it wasn’t getting as many views as Trump’s team had hoped (https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/02/donald-trump-blog-fail-491667)… Even though a social channel is more likely to drive engagement, is it really going to be enough to satisfy egos, advertisers, business partners, etc.? I suppose whether TRUTH succeeds or fails depends on what its intended goal is, but if it’s to influence others, isolating your voices on a contained platform is a questionable way of doing that.

Great post Sean! I have actually been looking into this new social media platform for awhile now. I just read an article the other day saying that this social media platform was actually going to be put on hold. Something that really caught my eye when reading your post is the part about pre-ordering. Social media platforms are free so I wonder if he is going to be charging to be on this platform?

I don’t blame him for starting his own platform. Social media was mainly created to give people a place to talk and share their opinions but now “Cancel Culture” has become a thing and these large platforms think they can ban people from their platforms. I don’t think it is right at all. Everyone has an opinion, you can agree or disagree but that doesn’t give you the right to take someone off a social platform.

I am interested to see how this new platform shakes up the other top dogs in social media platforms.

The site looks almost like a Twitter clone: A user can post Truths, like tweets, or Re-Truths, aka retweets. There’s also a news feed, called the Truth Feed, a notification system so users can know “who’s interacting with your TRUTH’s,” the social network’s App Store profile states. However, the site’s technical woes and uninspired design might not deter new users because Trump isn’t trying to win over the market by creating a unique media experience. Whether his base finds the site to be a tolerable experience remains an open question.

Social media outlets to me is all about intent. What are their intentions? Is their intentions really to keep in impartial or to try to suppress the popular or least popular viewpoint?

Facebook now shows you what you want to see in a bubble of information which can grow perception bias’s. What scary algorithmic back-end will TRUTH develop to keep what you want to see on it? I find it hard to believe the intent of TRUTH will be to keep progressive viewpoints when the audience will be geared for more conservative or even “Trumper” perspectives.

I have heard about this and it is definitely an interesting concept. To echo what some already said, social media is for everyone to share opinions and exchange ideas whether they agree/disagree with those ideas. However, some might feel better posting when they are among a group of like minded people. This is where an app like this can be beneficial. To Dan’s point, it will be interesting to see if this will be another Facebook where the algorithms are made to be divisive.

In the future, this same concept may come to fruition for other audiences. For example, this app essentially serves as an exclusive group or messaging board. Moving forward, there may be something similar for people who solely follow homeopathic medicine or have a vegan lifestyle among other niche groups. It will be interesting to see what will set the app apart from already existing sites, groups and boards for niche topics.