To Earn Customer Trust on Data Privacy, You Need to Change the Narrative

Every morning, people are willing to cough up a few bucks for a dark roast. But, four out of five Facebook users say $1 per month is too steep a price to pay for the privilege of logging in. A funny fact, considering it is a little harder to make a platform that connects 2 billion people than it is to make a morning beverage. Nevertheless, many of these same people have reacted strongly to the recent data collection so-called scandals.

But, even if anger over these scandals is more hype than reality, it does not mean tech companies can ignore the problem. Considering that anger is the emotion that spreads fastest on social media, companies should be more careful than ever when it comes to the hot-button issue of data — first and foremost by being sure to develop secure products and services, and having integrity.

Beyond that, however, there are a few more proactive steps companies should take to prevent this “manufactured” outrage from being directed at them:

For days after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg — the only public faces of the company — were silent and unavailable to the media and users. This allowed everyone other than the company to define the narrative, and led to rampant speculation about the company’s culpability. In fact, it quickly led to the explosion of the #DeleteFacebook movement, which even garnered support by tech leaders like Steve Wozniak.

It is not exactly clear what took the tech giant’s leaders so long to respond (perhaps it was to avoid Zuckerberg’s public perception issues, or to protect Sandberg for a future run for political office). But, what is clear is that had Facebook leadership activated a ready-made crisis plan and put senior management in front of a camera to take control of the narrative, it could have stemmed the tide and somewhat mitigated the fallout. Starbucks, for example, had success doing just that in the wake of its recent racially charged public relations crisis.

With that in mind, Facebook (and other famous-founder companies) would be wise develop more public faces — ones that are market-research tested, viewed credibly, and willing to sacrifice personal time and reputation to commit to the task. And other companies should do the same as well, in order to be able to get ahead of the issue and shape the story themselves.

Facebook has since made an ad about how bad it has become, as it tries to be introspective and pledges to do better. While this is a great example of taking control of the narrative, it is something that should have been done early and proactively, before the issue spiraled out of control. In this, other companies can learn from Facebook’s mistake.

A second step companies should take to reduce the risk of generating outrage over their use of data is to make sure their users are aware of exactly how they are using it in the first place. And this begins with simplifying companies’ terms and conditions — something that TechCrunch actually calls “the biggest lie of our industry.”

Faced with language that is intentionally (and unnecessarily) lengthy, complex and vague, a recent Deloitte survey of 2,000 consumers in the U.S. found that a whopping 91 percent of people actually consent to legal terms and services conditions without reading them. For younger people, aged 18-34, the rate is an even higher 97 percent.