27 Jan 14
Written by Jess Ciufia, David Bunzel & Simone Scruggs

Consumer Marketers: Digging Too Deep With Data Mining?

ZuckB ImagePlacing your personal information on digital platforms is inevitable in contemporary society.  We stay in touch with old friends and relatives through social networks, we exchange questions and knowledge with our professors and bosses through email, and we make shopping simple by making our purchases online.

We are all inescapably consuming the Internet, but are we aware of how much it is consuming us?

Without our knowledge or consent, marketers accumulate information about us with each click of the mouse.  This is referred to as “data mining”.  Businesses use this data to learn about our consumption habits and more specifically, how to effectively advertise to us.  I was unsure whether my generation (Millennials) perceives this practice as intrusive or, rather, accommodating and beneficial.  To explore this, I conducted a survey in which the majority of the participants regarded data mining as a concern, yet appreciated being personally advertised to.  In reviewing some data mining practices, I believe there are several instances in which it can absolutely be perceived as invasive, however the concern my generation has is what is being done with the information being data mined.  For example, companies, such as Facebook, could change policies regarding who is allowed access to your information, to data mine or not.

While data mining can be considered a revolutionary tool in assisting advertisers as well as consumers, businesses have become very discreet in order to subdue backlash from potentially freaked-out web surfers.  Some of Facebook’s initial data mining activities resulted in an adverse response from users.  This led to more transparency in their practice, by giving users the ability to “hide” targeted ads that were a direct result of Facebook’s data mining.  Because advertisements help keep this ubiquitous social network free, users cannot opt out of seeing ads entirely, however the company “strives to only show ads that are relevant and interesting to you”.  Here Facebook shapes data mining as more of a valuable service than an intrusive observer.  Even so, some aspects of data mining can result in situations that are just plain creepy.  Amazon and Target, just two prominent examples, use data mining to track customers purchase history.  Amazon advertises products that they think are relevant to you personally based on this data and Target mails you individualized coupons this way as well.

Now here’s the kicker – in 2011, Target’s data mining algorithms could determine with a high degree of accuracy a pregnancy and send coupons targeted to this these women.  One angry father stormed into a Target store, upset that his daughter was receiving coupons suggesting she was pregnant.  Three days later, the father apologized to the store manager, because his daughter had a “baby-on-board,” was in fact pregnant.  Target’s analytics software looked at patterns that suggested targeted coupons for products typically purchased during pregnancy.  It is that precise, intuitive, and spooky.

Further, certain Nordstrom’s department stores have been utilizing their Wi-Fi network to track smartphones and produce heat-maps of customers’ movements around their stores.  Likewise, Facebook uses the incentive of free Wi-Fi for checking in at select establishments, assisting business promotion for said establishments as well as enhancing their own data mining potential for its’ users.

According to the survey I conducted, with over 100 college students participating, when asked what information they felt uncomfortable in being data-mined, smartphone locations, emails, and search engine history were the most significant.  Participants were most concerned with strangers seeing this personal information, employers coming in second, and advertisers third.  Moreover, 95% of participants in this survey claimed they limit posting information on the Internet.  It’s clear that we are aware and unsettled by the ability of others to see our information, whether it be future employers or data mining marketers.  While this concern understandable, in regards to data mining, it may not be necessary.

We can argue issues over our privacy until we’re blue in the face, but no business is going to change their already-inconspicuous data mining practices.  When users thought third-party companies were going to be collecting their information, Facebook had to reassure consumers by not only making a statement implying their intent never to do so, but also changing their privacy policy by removing completely where it stated they had the right to.  Instead of focusing on the lack of privacy we have from useful digital computer systems, we should be considering the people who are sitting behind tangible computers, easily able to consume the information we place on our social networks.  Less than half of the participants of the survey cared if their Facebook and Twitter publications were data mined, and they shouldn’t.  Worst case scenario: you get advertised to personally!  Slightly more than 30% of respondents said they limited their ‘likes‘ on Facebook.  If you like “Pizza Hut” and “High Times,” you are promoting those pages to all of the news feeds your page will pop up in and inherently creating advertisements for Pizza Hut and High Times magazine.  Marketers love this.  Future employers, on the other hand, might not be as enthused to know that eating pizza and excessive partying are enough a part of your life, that you ‘like’-ed those particular pages on Facebook.

There is no human eye spying on our personal information that you aren’t already aware of – this isn’t Big Brother, and 1984 hasn’t become a reality.  Like it or not, our information is going to be data mined.  Our generation might not limit as much information as they should, and here is where we should place our concern, with ourselves.  Anything we put on the Internet could result in some sort of implication, so instead of being wary of advertisers attempts at marketing to us as individuals, we should focus more so on what we want to conceal and share with the genuine public eye.  Marketers recognize the apprehension we have even as avid Internet users – where there is a concerned consumer, there is a practice readily apt to reduce or eliminate that concern.

Yes, data mining may be the unwelcome snoop on our consumption habits, but for now, we can rest easy that this spying will more likely help us rather than hurt us.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Source

Broderick, Ryan. “10 Ways You Give up Data without Knowing It.” CNN. Cable News Network, 13 June 2013.

Also used Facebook page to read about privacy policies, advertisements, and the wiki page explaining data mining concerns.


comments powered by Disqus
lfooter twitter linkedin facebook

Photos Courtesy of UW-Madison Archives

DMIX privacypolicy