It’s a Common Phrase These Days
What does it mean when people use the phrase “You Are The Product“? You hear it, you read it, but what does it mean?
What It Means
Back when we manufactured things (remember those days?), when you went to the store, you bought things. You paid your money, and you received some object in return. Nowadays, things are different.
As it happens, there is a lot of money to be made by selling information. Here are some examples.
Suppose there is a bank that issues credit cards. If you want to increase distribution of credit cards, you would like to know who is appropriate for your credit cards. You don’t want to spend money on trying to recruit people who are not appropriate for your credit cards, because that money would be wasted. You may wish to know who earns enough money to pay their bills, you wish to know who actually pays their bills. You may also wish to know who has borrowed in the past and later paid back their loans, as past borrowers who paid back their loans are usually good customers.
Suppose there is an insurance company. If you want to increase insurance sales, you would like to know who is appropriate for the insurance you sell. You don’t want to spend money on trying to recruit people who are not appropriate for your insurance, because that money would be wasted. You want to find the people who have enough money to buy your insurance, who are the right age, and are credit-worthy.
And so on.
Who’s On First?
Where can these companies get the information that will tell them who is a good prospect for their products? What comes to mind first, of course, are the credit bureaus. There are several credit bureaus in the U.S. They amass financial information on everyone in the U.S., and in other countries they operate in.
Aside. Does This Make You Feel Safe?
Most (if not all) U.S. credit bureaus outsource data operations. Some are in India, some in Jamaica. There likely are operations elsewhere as well. What that means is whatever happens there is outside the reach of U.S. law.
So How Am I A Product?
As you recall, companies want to find appropriate people to sell them services and products. If you know someone who is qualified, it is likely their friends and business associates are similarly positioned. While the credit bureaus know each person’s credit worthiness, they do not know how to people are connected.
Enter social media.
Social media has all the information about who you communicate with, who you keep in touch with, who you maintain connections with, who are your friends. As a result, social media information is the perfect way to find out who is connected to whom for the purposes the companies want to know.
Going, going, gone… Sold!
Since social media sites do not charge money, how do they make money? They sell the information they have gathered from your activities. If person A is connected to person B, and both have certain buying habits, then it is likely that others who connect to both of them might also have similar tastes and buying habits. Hence, you are the product being sold.
So advertising on social media is customized. It is customized to reach those who meet certain criteria that are the goals of the advertisers. And this advertising is not limited to financial products. All manners of products are advertised on social media.
Not Just Products
In recent months more revelations about how advertising for political purposes used the information on social media to target specific people and groups. It is assumed that most of the people you connect with will share your opinions on social and political views. If some of those people in your social group are outspoken on their views, then advertisers can assume that you and others connected to them share their views.
Nefarious Use
So, some companies are the business of trying to push political objectives. If you can target advertising that sows doubt and confusion among competing political view, would you do it? Some companies do.
You Are Being Sold
Your connections and your social media behaviors are being sold. It is the social media companies that are making the money from you and your behavior. So it has turned out that you do not control and you do not own the information about your activities on social media. Whether you know it or not, when you agreed to use the social media applications, you agreed to their collecting and using your information and activities, and that includes who you are connected to.
What Can Be Done?
The idea that laws will constrain the social media companies is, in my view, absurd. Even if some laws are passed, the impact will not stop the selling of your information.
It is up to each individual person to decide if the risks and pitfalls of having given up their personal information is worth the ability to connect with people they already know. The ease at which photos, videos, and other information is shared on social media has made it easy to maintain contact. It has lulled people into a state of blindness about their personal information.
There Is Another Way
Recent movements to delete social media apps (#deletefacebook, for example) have give people the social acceptance to break from social media. One commentator realized “I would wager I use Facebook more to broadcast my ego than interact with real humans” Numerous studies have show how the use of social media negatively affect a person’s well being. One is here.
You Are Human. So Am I.
Face to face connections are the most important, and are associated with a person’s well being. Do you want to be well?
What do you think? To respond, see the Contact page.
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