Let’s Talk About Data

Let’s talk about big data. It’s everywhere! In the current landscape, with technology seeping into every part of our lives, we are being tracked and recorded through our online actions, preferences and posting habits. Every time we enter the digital marketplace, we leave a footprint that our favourite apps, websites and digital forums read and understand, and then use to to filter out the content that we don’t want to see based on our previous habits.

We have seen technology infiltrate our lives and, more recently, our homes, with the introduction of smart TV’s fridges and even home lighting. Each time we use these features, data builds and tracks our habits so that it can better understand us as consumers, all under the guise of making life more convenient for us.

This tracking has also left our homes and follows us around, but not in the way that you may thing. Wearables, such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch, the Apple Watch and the Fitbit Versa, have revolutionised the ability of technology to track our digital preferences. Wearables are perhaps the most interesting big data collector as it not only collects data on our online presence, but also on our physical attributes. Whether it may be monitoring our sleeping habits, step counters or physical activity, wearables collects the data that we don’t think would have much of an impact on how we are marketed to.

Wearables provide an incredible opportunity for companies in terms of measuring big data. Imagine, a step tracker on a smart watch reveals that a particular consumer completes most of their steps at lunch time. Presumably, this would mean that the consumer is out looking for something to buy for lunch. Using this data, what would be stopping restaurants or fast food chains from planting an ad onto the consumers social media feed? These ads are generated through an algorithm, right?

However, the use of big data like this has raised some serious concerns about privacy and ethical dilemmas. Would it be ethical to use big data to market fast food to an obese person? How about a long term investment opportunity to someone who is terminally ill? It raises the question of whether or not the over-analysis of big data is a step too far.

Big data has been designed to make life easier for us. It’s a tool aimed at making our day to day activities more convenient. But as with most positives, there is always a cost. On this occasion, it is our privacy. Do we really want the companies we know and love to really know so much about us?

Let me know what you think in the comments below. 👇

Jason Cuschieri