Matthew Beauchesne

Great post Matt!

While reading your post, I couldn’t help but think about the opening scene to the most recent Silicon Valley season. Here is a link if you haven’t seen it yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kgb4o3VE5Q
It truly is scary to think that Google, a company you interact daily with, has so much data on you that they could possibly right a bibliography on you and it would be more detailed than your version of it. It actually sounds like a great business idea. Maybe we could have IBM’s Watson write it for us, and see how good it is!

In theory, all this data should be used to personalize the experience with you or any user. We give them our data for free so that we can use their services for free. They intern use that data to create a better experience for us, the consumers. However, there is no legislation in place to prevent anyone from abusing the power that comes with it. Data laws from GDPR help in the states, but until their are data protection laws in the United States, digital marketing and data mining is like the wild wild west, All it takes is one company or the wrong person that takes advantage, and all of a sudden it’s a race to the bottom, because everyone else now needs to lower their gain and their standards. And in the word’s of Uncle Ben from Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility”, Here is another clip from last weekends Silicon Valley episode that drives home that point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nDHFYXlIRA

And we have already seen it happen a few times in the past couple of years. Look no further than Facebook with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where 87 million users had their raw data exposed without their consent (1). Or the handful of data breaches at large companies like Target, Panera, and Under Armour. All these companies allowed their data to be breached (Not all on purpose), but suffered very little repercussions. Personally, I still use Facebook, shop at Target, wear Under Armour, and eat food at Panera Bread, and I am sure there are many others like me. So it begs the question, how much is enough? What kind of catastrophic event needs to happen, to have the general masses get up in arms about how loosely our data is handled? Maybe web 3.0 is a subscription model, where we no longer get things for free, but rather pay a subscription to get access to our favorite apps? But even in that model, what prevents the provider of the service from mining the data themselves?

I can’t go anywhere without my phone, I am practically addicted to the thing. I have no doubt that my phone knows more about me, and what I do on a daily basis then I actually do. The data it collects is so personal it could really be a detriment if someone were to get access to it. As the Internet of Everything starts to take over, and wearables become more ingrained in everything we do, we are just giving these companies more data that they can exploit and abuse. They talk about how they want to move people away from their phones and towards these wearables, but with how engrained phones are with our everyday lives and the amount of data they get from them, I just can’t see how we will ever move away from them in general. Thank god most companies don’t know what to do with 90% of our data. I don’ think I could sleep at night if they could!

1) https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/23/17151916/facebook-cambridge-analytica-trump-diagram

Posting on behalf of Alyssa:

I hope everyone has seen Terminator Dark Fate, even if it is a C+ to B- movie. Location data and aggregation is the new SkyNet! (Guys, I love Terminator…and the X-Files, which tried the same thing, but at a D level…)

I don’t think that it’s the data breaches that worry people (although they should) because the ramifications aren’t particularly long lasting for consumers and are dispersed. Just think of the Target breach. Even the Equifax data breaches haven’t come to cause consumers to worry particularly, even though it seems that cyberattack was sponsored by a nation state for spying purposes (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/13/equifax-mystery-where-is-the-data.html) which should really concern everyone. How quaint it is to think of spies as people who sat around Reykjavik, drinking coffee, going to thermal baths, and just listening and watching. Goodbye James Bond and Carmen Sandiego.

It’s the unimaginable scale of the internet that makes data analysis worthwhile to track the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and target the right message to the right people at the right time. What’s concerning about Ogury is positioning themselves as a white knight in the space of data analysis. Unlike a singular brand, they don’t have a silo of data related to interactions with their own brand, but a broad base of user behavior to sell to companies. Which is fine (I guess) while people are still willing to trade “free” services for their labor. Our usage is what makes Ogury (Facebook and Google, and to a certain extent, .Amazon) able to create their offering, and if we want to opt out, we are either annoyed by worse and more advertising, or are forced into paying them. Give the bully your lunch money or get bullied; either way what you actually want to do is eat your lunch in peace. Or play Bejeweled.

Arguably, some of the issue is that consumers expect the internet/digital/mobile to be free. While users are willing to accept that free things need advertising to pay the bills (much like free newspapers are mostly ads), currently the data isn’t really driving relevant advertising in truly meaningful ways that make that advertising invisible, but the idea is that one day, it will be invisible to consumers. That’s where all my dystopian fever dreams come from.

Think about my experience seeing 4′ fluorescent tubes advertised; I know exactly why I’m being served that ad, and it makes all the other ads I’m served more visible than they “should be” even when they are relevant. I’m seeing sausage being made; my browsing history being treated as relevant in the wrong instance. Dissonant experiences like that make it clearer that Nest isn’t just a great convenience for me and you, but that Google is able to profit off of that usage data. On social networks, profiteering off of this behavior data is even more insidious because it is driven by our basic needs for social companionship and desires to connect with one another. Can google write my autobiography? Maybe, but it probably wouldn’t be a very interesting read. Not because I’m not interesting (I am interesting), but because of their need to smoosh me into an audience for their advertising services.

The missteps in the advertising placement algorithms are allowing people to see that their micro interactions are allowing the largest companies in the world to profit off of their “private” data. Otherwise, it would be very hard for consumers to tell how these platforms and products make money at all. They need to figure that out before enough people realize it to demand regulation, at least if they want to continue operating the way they have been.

Glad you are being proactive in managing your data, Matt. If you don’t mind, I’ll be really curious to hear what you get back.

Given the effort involved, seems like there’s a business opportunity to manage this data on your behalf… which basically gets us right back to where we’re starting except now we have a company than manages every company’s data on you on your behalf.

How do you weigh the time you’d need to manage this yourself vs. the possible reliance to mange this on your behalf more efficiently?

Like Matt, I’m very dependent on my IOT devices. I have 3 Google Assistant’s (mostly use them to play music on, as a timer and to turn the lights off at night), 1 IOT plug and 1 IOT light bulb and my next house will be full of IOT devices. I am fully on board with Google and have my life connected to my Google account. I realize all of the IOT devices are tracking what I do and aggregating data about me against thousands of others and honestly that doesn’t scare me, In an aggregated world I’m nothing more than 1’s and 0’s. What does scare me is someone getting a piece of my personally identifiable information (PII) and using all of this extraneous aggregated data to determine who I am. What will they do with this data and how will it impact my life? No I don’t necessarily stress about it, but I do watch my bank accounts and keep an eye on my credit report, not knowing if and when I might get hacked. (Which I did have fraud on my bank account over this summer and got a push notice from the bank that my balance was below the preset limit and had my account flagged within min’s of it happening. It has been a hassle getting all my accounts updated to a new bank card, but luckily nothing else has happened since.)

For apps that ask for too much of my PII, I do tend to back out of those apps and other things if they seem suspicious and not trustworthy. I don’t give most apps access to my phones settings unless there’s a valid reason for them to need access. I will allow some apps access after I’ve used the app enough to be in my daily life and useful. (Maybe that’s like dating an app? I won’t let you into my house until after the 2nd date…something to ponder 🙂 )

It is going to be a love hate relationship with IOT devices and apps that need our data for logistics and marketing purposes, but I may have to think twice about giving away to much of my personally identifiable information.

PII: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/personally-identifiable-information-pii.asp

1/3 Interesting read, Matt! I would have never thought to check out one social media platform on their own let alone another. It was cool to hear that Facebook not only knows how to best handle its own platform but can also utilize best practices for another to earn Top Company.

2/3 I liked that you used a company that utilizes Twitter as a customer service platform. Another great example of this, believe it or not, would be Septa. After hearing the Social Media Director of Septa speak at a conference, I was enlightened to hear that it has multiple accounts for various resources such as; customer service inquiries (https://twitter.com/septa_social), line updates, travel advisories (https://twitter.com/septa), and more. It’s been a while since the conference but I remember the director sharing examples of customer service usage via Twitter to learn about train time updates. Thanks for sharing Whole Foods and Facebook’s strategies on each platform.

3/3 Have you ever utilized Whole Foods Twitter account to receive customer service?

I was unable to send in 1 big post, apologies for multiple comments!

Great post, Matt. You’ve picked up on the fact that Whole Foods has a content and channel strategy *within* a channel itself (Twitter). Nice assessment of how that enables focused conversations for different audiences/audience needs.

Matt,

Great post, it even made me a little hungry! I agree with you in the sense that I think it’s a great idea that Whole Foods uses other accounts on Twitter to handle their PR and career pages, so they can target in on their primary audiences. Whole Foods knows who their target audience is and how to connect with them as they enjoy organic, healthy and clean foods and with the article you posted about you pull the direct correlation of content that their users want. As it relates to Facebook and LinkedIn while they highlight their employees and initiatives, I do think they could use more video content. We hear the term “video is king” and while Whole Foods does a great job of content, I don’t see much video content on these two channels and I think that is something they could explore.

Really interesting dynamic on the guideshops and the mobile experience. Seems like there’s a lot of room to expand on this.

Do you know if Bonobos is experimenting with AR or any similar tech? Seems like if they have your measurements on file and a device with multiple cameras available, it’s not a stretch to an experience where you can “virtually” try on clothes and, maybe, removing the need for the guideshop overhead?

Anything about the guideshop experience that leverages mobile tech? Can you schedule a fitting? Pre-select inventory to try on when you arrive?

Awhile back, I used Macy’s personal shopping program to rebuild my wardrobe. I’d never shopped at Macy’s before, but having someone with more sense than I reset my closet seemed a solid start (it was a free service). While the experience was pretty hands off, I saw tons of opportunity to collaborate in advance of my visit by surveying fabric/pattern preferences, styles, etc. to better “prep the fitting” for when I arrived. At the minimum, it all but assures I buy more on my visit!