Analytics

Tonight in class we discussed analytics and what this means to the world of social media and business. I believe this is a smart tool for companies to use to better understand their customer’s wants and needs with their company. As more companies use analytics, the consumer experience will become even more personalized then it already is. This tool will allow companies large and small the ability to tweak their message so it can be heard by the largest number of people. This is great for non-profit organizations and public service parts of the government. Unfortunately, the bright side to analytics has an even darker side. At the beginning of the class I was all for the analytics being used to analysis peoples habits on website traffic and other things of that nature. By the end of the class I was not so excited by the thought of companies complying large amounts of data on my habits. The video of the US Bank sticks in my mind the most about tonight’s class. The only thing I kept thinking was I would have been really pissed if my bank called me out of the blue about moving my money out of the bank. I believe what I do with my money is my business and no one else’s. I would have not been a success story for that bank and I don’t think I would be the exception. I kind of feel it is an invasion of my personal privacy and that the bank over stepped its bounds. I believe one day this idea of mining analytics will be under investigation of personal privacy. Where do we draw the line on what information is not too personal to share? I don’t know… maybe I am crazy? What are your thoughts?