When most people sign in to their computers, fire up their iPad or tablet, or surf the Internet on their mobile device, they usually presume that their activity is anonymous.
Sure, you might expect advertisements to be targeted to you based on your surfing habits or products you’ve purchased previously. That has become normal. When you sign in to your Amazon account you get very custom recommendations for other products you may be interested in based off what you’ve purchased through Amazon before. This is pure convenience.
When does technology and data marketers collide? In the online privacy debate.
First for a little background information with some geek-speak.
The Internet is powered by networks, and each “node” such as a home computer network, or business network must be identified out to the Internet with a unique IP address. An IP address is like the physical address for your Internet connection, which also has DNS associated with it.
While this is a core necessity for you to be able to use the Internet, and won’t be changing any time soon, it makes your online activity much more visible than you would imagine.
This post isn’t to point out just a negative and create paranoia, but rather to create an awareness of the challenge privacy defenders and good, ethical marketers, and data miners have in the online privacy debate.
Should you be concerned about your online privacy?
In a word, yes. The same old rules still apply, even in our open society, and social networks pushing us to share even more of our personal information publicly.
How the world went from being paranoid about sharing their home address, to sharing it publicly, and telling people about their location through geolocation is something social scientists can analyze and let us know.
Some theorize it is the tribal mentality, and that eventually we all will, through modern technology, be part of a large “tribe” or “tribes”. While this is deeper than meets the eye, it does tell you something about the way we share information.
Why, on the other hand you SHOULDN’T be concerned
Although you need to continue using common sense with your online activity, there is room for debate saying that the convenience and freedom afforded through modern technology and communication platforms such as social networks are worth the perceived risk that the Internet is scary.
The challenge and need for ethical use of data
Marketers, especially those using the Internet to build awareness and generate new business for themselves and clients, have a unique opportunity to use the available data and information from the Internet.
You can use information for good, providing relevant and useful information, to those who wouldn’t mind seeing it using social demographics and online advertising.
Data miners such as large search engines, government organizations, analytic services, and to some extent the social networks themselves, have a need to strive for integrity with the data that they hold.
Many are taking the necessary steps to anonymize the data, particularly by taking out the IP addresses, before handing the information back to those who will use statistics to make marketing decisions. But the challenge and need for these large organizations to be responsible with this information and ethical is crucial to online privacy.
What you can do about it
Enjoy the technology that is available to you. Never before could the human race speak their mind so freely and quickly and connect on a different level. Don’t forget offline interaction, make that a priority.
What inbound marketers can do about it
Inbound marketers are a unique bunch. The premise of creating content and buzz that will be sticky and act like a magnet to draw prospects in is amazing. This is all achievable through the inbound marketing methodology. Put it into action, use information wisely and market with good inbound techniques and never spam or go to the dark side.