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Marketers 'should respect privacy of individuals'
Marketing News |
30/12/2011
2012 is set to be the year of privacy, as far as online business goes, one internet psychologist has claimed.
Graham Jones said that businesses know more and more about their consumers - where they are, what they are doing, what they are buying.
At the moment, people are accepting the tentative steps being taken in mobile and online socialisation to target based upon geo-location, he noted.
But at heart, human beings are rather private, Mr Jones stated, and this is likely to influence their attitudes towards certain marketing practices.
"As more and more becomes known publicly about individuals and as more and more of that public information gets targeted by business, there will be a backlash," he claimed.
"Businesses which focus on tapping into geo-location and so on will probably only have a relatively short life, as human beings batten down the hatches and increase their privacy."
Mr Jones said that the internet, and more sophisticated online tools, has empowered consumers and made them less accepting of perceived wrongs.
"We have had the Arab Spring, partly as a result of the internet and we can expect more of that," he claimed.
For instance, a Chinese spring could occur at some point in the not-so-distant future, Mr Jones suggested.
"The lack of economic success and the central role of Germany in the saving of the eurozone could well lead to similar kinds of people power in Europe, with the internet playing a central role in political unrest," he suggested,
"People are realising increasingly that they can use the internet to break unwanted systems."
And with this in mind, businesses need to take additional care over how they provide consumers with tailored advertising material.
So if marketers overstep the mark with the use of personal information, they not only run the risk of alienating consumers, but incurring their wrath in cyberspace.
Posted by John Lynes
