The problem with personalized digital marketing

Several websites and search engines are storing information about the users. You are probably thinking, “Okay, what else is new?” Well, you may not know to what extent this is happening. Let’s take Facebook for example. You may notice that the same friends are appearing in your news feed and on your page. This is because they keep track of who you interact with the most. This is not too much of a big deal. How about the fact that they use your personal information to collect money from advertisers? Your status updates, information in your profile, and even things you share with your friends are all recorded and used to target you specifically for advertising. This is the digital form of traditional surveying methods, except it’s done without your permission and willing participation. Maybe they consider you a willing participant for using the services provided by the site. But is it still okay when they take information from other sites you’ve visited? Even if you are logged out of Facebook, they can still track different sites that you’ve visited, and content that you download. I believe that if this is going to be done, we should have the option of selling our web history to places like Facebook, so they could then use it to gain profit from advertisers.

Another point that was brought up in the Ted Speech by Eli Pariser titled Beware online “filter bubbles” (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html) was that this type of customization and personalization separates us in a sense. Google also customizes the results of the users. Based on previous searches, web history, where you are geographically located, the type of computer you are using, etc. Google will customize your search results based on what they think you are most likely to click on. This helps them to keep advertisers happy.

Huffington Post, Yahoo News, and New York times are all using personalization in various ways. The problem with this new system of customizing results on the web to each person is the user no longer decides what content they will choose to consume. You no longer control the web and decide what your web experience will be like; the web controls you and chooses how your web experience will be. It’s like if you were going to a buffet. And based on what you ate last time, you only have access to specific kinds of food. The restaurant says, “Based on what you ate throughout the week, and what you ate last time you came to our buffet, we have customized a new buffet just for you. We have excluded all seafood and desert items. We realize that you didn’t eat any fried food yesterday, so those will not be available to you either. Please enjoy your personalized meal.” I don’t know about you guys, but I would like to experience the whole buffet.