Is Big Data giving advertising a Bad Reputation?
Whilst different disciplines of IT, ‘Big Data’ and ‘Cloud Computing’ are two very distinct technologies, and in the view of most end-users they are intrinsically linked.
So how are they linked?
We have all probably heard of names such as MapReduce and Hadoop, these are the underlying technologies that enable the move from unstructured to structured data that can be analysed.
The short term ‘peak’ of these technologies lends itself very well to the Cloud Computing model of technology on-demand.
But from a cloud platform provider’s perspective the rental of these processing or computing burst technologies and associated tools is the demarcation point. A cloud infrastructure (IaaS, PaaS) provider would never release data to a 3rdparty data broker, otherwise the ensuing outcry would not lend itself to business longevity.
Today there are a number of companies that provide ‘data services’ to enable ‘targeted advertising’ and a ‘relevant experience’. I call total BS on this, what these so called companies are doing is seeking to go beyond segment marketing, where you target customers by location, age range or other demographics, to individualised marketing where clients are targeted using unique identifiers. These identifiers include, but are not limited to, personal interests or even sexuality as well as a host of other highly personal particulars. These can range through to your relationship with, and the behaviour of other family members, and a range of other information points that are labelled as ‘contextual’ – or as I’d prefer to term it ‘creepy’.
Your data is worth more to a provider than the smartphone application you play or the online dating site you visit. Every time you fill in a form or launch an application or sign up to an online email service you are asked to agree to a policy which is typically a very long document written in legal jargon, and in font 9 that you never really read, but that gives permission for everything.
The question is, if you use the application or software for free does that trade off matter? I would say that it depends on whether this is made clear in legible highlighted terms.
