Future Foundation: (Your) Data, Data Everywhere
In our latest Research Focus report, Future Foundation explores the increasingly blurred boundaries between what’s mine and what’s yours when it comes to online privacy…
This month, the Future Foundation has been thinking about the changing meaning of privacy. As the internet continues extending its tentacles into every nook and cranny of our lives, does privacy still exist? Has personal information become the currency of exchange – I will give you my data in return for tailored, personalised services?
As Facebook this week announces that it will be introducing a raft of (some may say long-overdue) changes to make its privacy settings clearer and easier to use, The Future Foundation has been exploring the increasingly blurred boundaries between what’s mine and what’s yours.
We generate a huge amount of information about ourselves as we move around the internet and as e-commerce continues to grow in sophistication, it’s inevitable that more companies will seek to understand and utilize these data in increasingly subtle ways.
Looking to our proprietary research source nVision, we can clearly see a growing resistance to the willful disclosure of our data. As is clear from the chart below, consumers are increasingly taking action to ensure their personal data remains secure – 85% avoid giving out personal details online; 30% have set up restrictions on social networking sites to limit who can see their profiles; and 27% won’t carry out financial transactions due to privacy concerns. Our data also tells us that 60% of the UK thinks the government has too much information on individuals and yet this is nothing compared to the data held by companies like Facebook.
However, we also see that consumers naturally become more willing to disclose information when it is clear that there is a definite personal benefit – for example, 1 in 3 UK consumers say they like companies recommending products to them based on previous purchases.
Mobile privacy
As increasing numbers of products and services, from banking to shopping, migrate to mobile platforms, so the issue of how our data is kept secure and private will become more and more pressing. Mobile devices are an extremely attractive proposition for brands, creating a fantastically rich marketing platform through which to communicate with consumers. And the growth of sophisticated technologies like apps and geo-location functionality allow for even greater tailoring and deeper engagement – in many ways, they create a market segment of one.
Future Foundation research shows that at the moment, there is little awareness of privacy on the move – only a very small percentage of consumers are concerned enough about security to avoid downloading apps or music to their phones, for example. A similar picture emerges when we look at social networking – our love for networking on the move has never been stronger (and in fact, according to the GSM Association, Facebook alone accounted for 45% of all time spent on the mobile internet in the UK in December of 2009), but how many of us realise the implications of sharing our personal details?
We would argue that our data must be managed respectfully whether or not we give it up willingly. Anticipating what your customer wants is the epitome of smart online communication – but this requires data to be dealt with in a responsible and transparent manner. Finding this delicate balance will become a major issue for brands over the next decade. We are, after all, people and not data-mines for digital advertising.