Digital ID Coach

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

future, tools Anticipatory thinking, brainstorming, business, Business/Finance, Coaching, Data collection, Global Business Network, Human communication, Insight, Management, marketing, Military strategy, online account, planning, Project management, Question, Scenario, scenario planning, social networking groups, Strategic management, Strategy, Systems engineering, Technology/Internet, Vendor Relationship Management

KindClicks (ads that you want)

February 18th, 2009

No comments

A colleague pointed me to this commercial for a company called KindClicks. It’s an interesting concept: sign up and identify the kind of ads you might be interested in, they represent you (anonymously) to the advertisers who then pay for access to the people who are interested. KindClicks then offers you the ads, and shares the advertising money with you (or a charity). From their site:

The company protects and brokers consumers’ data and communications to enable more effective and efficient business marketing and sales. KindClicks also has a philanthropic agenda; the company is committed to helping nonprofits, associations, and foundations raise money by empowering their constituents to make and save money.

I haven’t signed up yet because I’m still mulling over their Terms of Service (especially the part that says we can change our terms any time without notification and you hereby agree to those changes). I can’t agree to something I don’t know or haven’t seen yet.

Coaching moment: What do you do when you need to research a purchase? If you had the opportunity to be represented by an advertising service? How important is it to ask friends for their opinions? (They are a social “recommendation engine.”) If you could design the perfect service that would deliver information about goods and/or services, the ones you’re interested in, what would it do or not do? There are a lot of developers that want to know.

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

records, tools advertising, advertising industry, advertising service, charity, marketing, recommendation, representation

Data Ownership

February 17th, 2009

No comments

Several people have asked about Facebook’s recent changes to their Terms of Service. The controversy was sparked by a post in The Consumerist entitled We Can Do Anything We Want With Your Content. Forever! That was followed by a comparison by Amanda French, and an analysis by Jacobson Attorneys. Of course, in the fray Facebook’s Zuckerberg also weighed in.

What people were asking about is why they should care. They have ALL of their friends on the service and it has become The Only Way to keep up with their network. So what if Facebook uses a picture; that helps the photographer or artist, doesn’t it? (It’s doubtful that Facebook would give the artists credit for their work because that might distract from the mission of its use.)

A moment from history might be appropriate. Back in 1954, George Orwell wrote a book called 1984. Wikipedia says about this book that “the novel has become famous for its portrayal of pervasive government surveillance and control, and government’s increasing encroachment on the rights of the individual.”

Of note: these days it’s more about the influential power of the 10,000 little brothers to do the same work, like death by a thousand paper cuts. The issue remains as one of self-determination.

For your entertainment, here is the BBC version of Orwell’s book.

Coaching moment: Remember when you were a young teen and wanted to do a lot of exciting things, but your parents wouldn’t let you? They claimed that you didn’t yet have wisdom to act appropriately and might do harm to yourself or others. You probably viewed that as a matter of self determination: you know what’s best for yourself. As you get older, you’re often treated in a similar (and occasionally condescending) way by the marketing and advertising industry: they know what’s best for us. Advertisers make or contract with online services (like Facebook) in order to attract you to their advertisements. The advertisers want nothing more than to sell you stuff–because isn’t that the bottom line of their business, to sell more stuff?

What are your options? Would you rather be part of a system in which you can declare your interests? Let’s say you love looking at new car ads, but don’t want to see truck commercials. Or let’s say you want to know what natural soaps or facial products are available these days. Wouldn’t it be nicer to see the ads for goods and services that are of interest? That would also be a benefit to the advertisers who want you to see things you’re interested in buying.

What do you think? I welcome your comments.

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

friends/family, future, records, tools 1984, advertising, advertising industry, Amanda French, BBC, car ads, disclosure, facial products, George Orwell, marketing, surveillance, Terms of Service, TOS

On Being Irrational

January 6th, 2009

No comments

I always get a kick out of someone saying that our personal, cultural, or learned dysfunctions work for them.

This is the case in SEOmoz’s blog post, 10 Irrational Human Behaviors and How to Leverage Them to Improve Web Marketing. It’s an extension of Chris Yeh’s Outline of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions. SEOmoz author randfish is using these not-entirely-rational behaviors to his own advantage: finding easier ways to sell stuff and make money. It’s a clean post: description of the behaviors, and lessons on applying them. For example:

VI: The Problem of Procrastination and Self Control

Ariely conducted an experiment on his class. Students were required to write three papers. Ariely asked the first group to commit to dates by which they would turn in each paper. Late papers would be penalized 1% per day. There was no penalty for turning papers in early. The logical response is to commit to turning all three papers in on the last day of class. The second group was given no deadlines; all three papers were due in the last day of class. The third group was directed to turn their papers in on the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks.

The results? Group 3 (imposed deadlines) got the best grades. Group 2 (no deadlines) got the worst grades, and Group 1 (self-selected deadlines) finished in the middle. Allowing students to pre-commit to deadlines improved performance. Students who spaced out their commitments did well; students who did the logical thing and gave no commitments did badly.

“These results suggest that although almost everyone has problems with procrastination, those who recognize and admit their weakness are in a better position to utilize available tools for precommitment and by doing so, help themselves overcome it.”

Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:

Procrastination is an extremely common human behavior – plan for it in your business and take advantage of it where it can help (trial offers that turn into paid services, for example).

By setting up early controls and making people recognize this weakness, we can reduce its negative impact. You can apply this to contractors, employees, vendors, etc.

Coaching Moment: To borrow a phrase from the government, some people are more prone to “irrational exhuberance” than others. Do you know your own strengths and weaknesses? Are they in service of your true needs? If not, is there some behavior or belief that you need help with?

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

friends/family, tools behavior, Chris Yeh, irrational, marketing, search engine optimization, seo, SEOmoz, Web Marketing

How much of your identity do you own?

November 14th, 2008

No comments

Credit card companies (Visa, Mastercard, et al) have long held that they own your purchasing data. It’s your purchase but it’s their data. Moreover, they can buy/sell/trade/compile/organize/use it in any way that makes them a profit (providing it’s not explicitly illegal).

Similarly, the telephone companies consider the phone numbers you dial and the numbers from people calling you to belong to the telephone company. That’s why they can charge you extra for publishing a “caller ID.”

At the Internet Identity Workshop I attended earlier this week, some people were pointing out that your fingerprints are not really yours either. They are considered “public” because you leave them all over. Your fingers are yours, but as far as using prints for identification they’re more akin to, say, a signature.

What other little bits of you are you leaving behind for others to own?

Coaching moment: There are people who have been working for years on each side of this problem. The efforts are still early, but some of the people I met at the IIW conference are working on ways to let you take control of some of the bits of “you” that you leave behind. Watch this site for more information.

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.