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Digital Communities
Industry Members
Digital Big Brother
January 4, 2012 By Ulf Wolf
On my way back from Los Angeles to my home in Northern Idaho, I again perused the current issue of Spirit, the Southwest in-flight magazine—January 2012 this time—and again came across something I thought worth sharing; I might even say something I felt compelled to share.
Well, let me back up a few days. Part of the story is that, over the years my daughter and son-in-law have doggedly tried to “applify” me, that is, they have tried to convince me to buy something “apple” — preferably a mac, the apparent ruler of the computer roost. Over as many years I have successfully resisted their efforts and as doggedly stuck to my Dell and Windows guns.
This Christmas, however, I was in search of a good mp3 player with at least 64 Gigabytes of storage, and as luck would have it the Apple iPod Touch fit the bill. To be honest, after having played with my daughter’s older version for a while, I must confess that I quite liked it. And so I set my first foot in Apple-country.
Here's the point: once I had uploaded a fair amount of music and began to listen to my choice selections my daughter informed me that I had to go to the “app store” and begin downloading and installing Apps, the apparent reason for having the iPod (or iPhone or iPad) in the first place. Well, my reason was the mp3 player, so I didn't quite see the point, but I did go there and I but I did discover the Hulu+ app, along with the Kindle and PBS apps, and I did download those. This however did not even scratch the Apps surface.
Apparently—and I must plead prior and blissful ignorance here—there are millions of apps, so many in fact that writers of apps now treat the first two iPod or iPhone pages of apps like we used to (and still do) treat the first two Google results pages as the most important territory on the planet.
The first two pages of apps (assuming now that you have more than two—I don’t, but some have tens of pages of apps on their devices) would be the ones you use most often, and which would also—incidentally—lay the groundwork for the subject of this post: the digital big brother.
The apps I’m referring to are those that not only track your preferences but also your location, and can base recommendation (and flash you ads) based on both. Apps such as Siri, Yelp, and Foursquare can not only intuit (based on past behavior) what you’d want to do next, but also (again based on past behavior as well as past and current physical location) where you'd want to do it.
Stuart Wade opens his article Social Studies with an apt comparison:
In his exhilarating 2002 thriller Minority Report, Steven Spielberg conceived a future powered by what, at that time, seemed to be wildly advanced technologies. In one memorable scene, Tom Cruise’s character, Chief John Anderton, who has just been identified as a murder suspect, walks through a mall and is bombarded with highly individualized forms of advertising that reflect his current frazzled state of mind.
“John Anderton! You could use a Guinness right now,” says one advertisement from the Irish beer brewing company. “The road you’re on, John Anderton, is the one less traveled,” says another from Lexus.
While this kind of neuro-marketing, which anticipates your buying mood and needs by measuring things like blood pressure and heart rate, hasn’t quite hit the masses, we’re rapidly moving into the next stage of the digital revolution that will help companies guess what we will most likely buy, eat, or watch next.
And by using data collected from our increasing appetite for mobile technologies and location-based apps, they’re going to get it right.
It’s all about predicting your needs and wants, right now, where you are. The apps, loaded and launched on your mobile device could, quite easily, determine that you have in fact now walked two miles and have not had a drink lately. In other words: you must be thirsty. And since you’re now only two hundred yards away from a Burger King, the ad that might appear on your device might actually tell you that (since historically you do favor 7-up) you can now get an Extra Large 7-up at the Burger King around the corner for a today only $1.25. And, sorry to say, you would more than likely take them up on their offer.
This is predictive marketing at its best (or worst).
Frankly, I think it smells of Big Brother.
Remember, though, that it takes two important ingredients to make such marketing work. Firstly: Apps intelligent enough to track behavior, preferences, wherewithal, and location. Secondly: Your willingness to be manipulated.
If this smells of a near future Big Brother to you, too, you can steer clear of him by simply refusing to play along. Delete the tracking cookies on a daily basis (McAfee does a good job of that); don’t load Apps that track your location; don’t let the curious consumer in you get the better of you.
What initially may strike you as fun and games, and which may kill some time pleasantly, is in fact the global marketing machine gaining a foothold so close to you and your private world as to constitute an intrusion.
An intrusion that soon, unless we stay vigilant, may turn full-scale invasion.
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You're just now getting around to finding out about apps on mobile devices, reluctantly so, and yet we're supposed to take your opinions about technology seriously?
I would have to agree with the previous comment. Apps on mobile devices and such things as Foursquare have been around for years.
It is, in fact, extremely daring to present a view so diametrically opposite to the prevailing attitude. Mr. Wolf, you may be a hero. You have spoken the unspeakable: That there is a very deliberate tracking of consumer habits to the point of stripping away all semblance of privacy and confidentiality. The trade-offs seem benign yet reek of invasiveness. As a far more wise individual once said, "We will lose our rights when we surrender them." 'Champion on Sir'
To Jerome: You're completely free to take my opinions about technology whichever way you like. The admitted truth is that since I've had, or saw, no real use for them I have been steering clear of mobile technology. When, however, I come upon an aspect of it that I find fascinating or even frightening, I will--such is my nature--voice my opinion. But this opinion is, of course, but one person's view, for you to consider or disregard at your leisure. To Stephen: see above. The fact that I am not app-wisely engaged does not make this technology any less intrusive (and potentially invasive). Of course, all technology can be used for good or ill. My view is that as a rule Man (unfortunately) seem to bend such new technology to serve greed and uninhibited consumerism rather than to truly help his fellows in any meaningful ways. At least in my opinion. To KingGeorge: When it comes to true happiness I will almost always side with Thoreau that less is more. Or as he put it himself: "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."
I watch cable TV. I receive marketing for local business. My cable TV company knows where I live and gives me targetted marketing. Spooky. I use a store branded loyalty card at my grocery store. I get a discount with it. They track my purchases. I get coupons with my receipt. Spooky. I use gmail. The ads/links at the top of my inbox indicate they are reading my mail. Ok, this one does bug me a little. Not tons. My credit card company though. They see every purchase that I make, where and when I make it. I dunno. All of these are pre-app store things, so I have a hard time getting worked up about Words with Friends. But then, I'm no Alec Baldwin.