Month: January 2011

I don’t get the privacy thing

/ Susan Scrupski / Leave a comment

Fireplace_tool_set

I want this.  Wish I had known this was on sale.  I had to look for it. 

Why wouldn’t I want marketers who know me, really know me, to market better to me?   Isn’t that preferred than being bombarded with countless ads that way over or under reach me? On any given day, the 50% of the marketers’ ad budget that isn’t targeted to me piles up on my TV screen, on my Facebook page, in my ears from the radio, or on the road on a billboard.  

Will the perfect advertisement please court me?  I will tell you my age, my gender, my likes/my dislikes, my entertainment preferences, how much I make, where I live, what I like to do, who I want to marry, where my comfort level is on discretionary spend, what industry I work in, my net worth, my pets’ names, the ages and genders of my children — I will tell you anything you want to know to deliver ads that are perfectly targeted to me.  

I know my data is simply aggregated with a bunch of other people just like me, so what?   Why is this so frightening?

Who cares, really?  

Facebook_ads

I don’t want any of these.  Not even on an impulse buy.  

 

It’s #80sWeek this week in the Council

/ Susan Scrupski / 1 Comment

Susan85

It’s ’80s week in the Council on our Socialcast site.  The most fun I ever had in my life happened during the late 80s.  It was an era that pre-dated digital photography, Facebook, DIY film (YouTube), etc.  Because of the state-of-the-art technology, I was able to lead somewhat of a double life.

  • By day, I was a corporate professional working for one of the most conservative corporations in the world, EDS.  Women were not permitted to wear slacks in the 1980s and one of the qualifying questions during an EDS interview was whether or not you were co-habitating with a member of the opposite sex outside of marriage.  Of course, I lied about most items about my personal life in the interview, including my salary which I bumped up $10K.  
  • By night, I was steeped in the New Wave scene.  When I got home to my apartment, the corporate suit and white shirt was quickly abandoned for a black leather skirt, fishnet stockings, suede heels, and lots of trampy jewelry, as I headed out to see some late night pub band. 

My friends used to laugh at this schizophrenic existence, but I loved it.  What was most fun was the fact that I could get away with it.  I regret not having more photos of that fabulous era in my life, but if I had been socially connected and transparent the way genY is today, I would not have been able to pull off the masquerade.  I think about that from time to time.  And wonder what life would have been like if we were narrating our lives on the social web for all to see.