I’ll complain about privacy as I tweet where I am, post it on Instagram and share it on Facebook

I’ll complain about privacy as I tweet where I am, Ipost it on Instagram and share it on Facebook

 

Follow me, just not my data

Babbling on social media but boiling about data privacy

Just checked in on social media–updated my friends about my upcoming vacation plans, tweeted about a new job offer, noticed the updated relationship status for a close friend and printed off an email coupon before heading to my favorite store.

This is a totally random ‘day-in-the-life scenario’ of a not-so private, tech savvy consumer updating their social media status.  Given such a scenario,  why are consumers getting so bent out of shape about privacy when retailers start tracking their smartphone MAC address to serve up some sweet deals as they wonder around the store?  Aren’t they interested in the best deal and isn’t that why they became a loyalty customers in the first place–to take advantage of a personalized shopping experience?
Privacy has been a hot topic this summer, and major retailers who are tracking consumer movement throughout the store are feeling the heat. When it comes to being tracked and having your location information and private shopping habits used to proactively push ads to smartphones, consumers are doing an ‘about face’ and taking exception.
A London based company recently discontinued a trial test of a location based technology because of negative reaction from the public.  The company was testing a Wi-Fi enabled recycling bin, with an embedded LCD screen, that displayed personalized ads to passer-bys, using their MAC addresses and some real time analytics. London-ers went crazy and the company stopped the test.

Consumers want to control how personal data is used

It’s just another example of consumers wanting and needing to be in control of how their private and personal data is used.  It’s apparent that social media fanatics are OK if they’re the ones to expose the inner-most details of their life, but they go berserk if their information is used in an unexpected  ‘surprise attack’ manner…like tracking your location as you move throughout the store — isn’t that what the video cameras are doing? In many cases, shoppers have no idea they’re even being tracked — or for that matter that they have the opportunity to opt-out of such a service, if they were asked in the first place.
This privacy issue is likely to stick around for awhile or at least until someone comes up with a 99 cent app that will automatically encrypt or anonymize a MAC address to eliminate the privacy issue or need for an opt out service