To start the week I wanted to follow up on my latest post dedicated to the Google Glasses and their use in a business environments. I finished this post by saying that all the information on us was being aggregated, used and that eventually our freedom became restricted.
I promised to explain my thoughts … so here they are.
Google knows who you are
It shouldn’t be surprise for anybody that we are tracked in everything what we do, especially online. Algorithms observe, analyze what we do. Big data is aggregated to understand what we like and dislike (based on the websites we visit, the time we spend, …) and predict our next move. Like a chess player, the algorithm anticipates our behavior and actually goes one step further.
Options offered based on our tastes
When you behavior has been analyzed the content you are offered fits what the algorithm thinks fits best to your needs. In other word, content is pushed to you that may match what you’d like to see. I think this is really very intrusive because it forces you to certain options that may actually not be the best ones for you. Let’s take an example.
Information freedom is reduced
I was speaking the other day to a journalist of L’Avenir who was interviewing me for one of his articles. The industry of the information has changed he said. When there was no online content, customers bought their newspapers without knowing in advance what they would find in it, whether the content would please them. It was “information on offer”. Today people have switched to online content and, through typing keywords, decide themselves what they want to read about. Hyperlinks are proposed based on the keywords, they click on them and read whatever is proposed to them.
Information on demand vs. Information on offer
In the offline “information on offer” model, the range of information available for the reader was much broader. You could actually read something interesting you wouldn’t have been thinking of.
In the online “information on demand” model, the scope becomes much narrower because you decide upfront what you want to read about. The probability that content “hits you” that you wouldn’t have expected is smaller.
It’s actually very very small because algorithms used to propose you what to read sort and narrow the scope even further. If you use to read the Washington Post, the first articles you’ll get proposed will be from the same journal. If you read left-wing press, you won’t be offered right-wing press articles.
In other words, you have the impression that you decide what to do but it’s only an illusion. You behavior has been analyzed, put in equation, and you become a variable. You freedom is limited to a certain range and the algorithms will not let you go out of that range. You are not free anymore.
If you want to deepen this topic, don’t hesitate to watch the video below (our thanks go to D. Vellande for drawing our attention to it).
Posted in Marketing, Misc..
