Category Archives: Uncategorized

May 8, 2014 · 8:34 am

Why I Block Data Gathering

I can’t decide if what I’m about to write is me being a total hypocrite or the blinding flash of light that comes with insight.

Digital Ghostery

(Photo credit: ToadLickr)

I’ll let you folks be the judge.  Confession:  I block data gathering as I surf.  I use not one but TWO very good, very effective browser extensions to do so:  Disconnect and Ghostery.  Why two?  I’m not sure – maybe I’m just a belt and suspenders kind of guy.  I white list Google Analytics since I use them every day for myself and for my clients and not to do so just doesn’t feel right.  Damn near everything else is blocked.  Do I do this because I am afraid the government or some large internet company is going to find out I like golf and wine and rock music?  Not a bit.  Let me give you my thinking.

I have a very curious mind.  I want to know stuff.  Moreover, I like to find stuff.  The problem with where the internet has evolved is that much of the data being gathered is by marketers of all sorts as well as for content personalization.  For example – are you signed into your browser?  Is Google allowed to track your search history?  If so, the results I see when I look something up won’t match the results you get when you do the same search.  Why?  Because Google uses your search history and what you clicked on in those searches to guide the results they present to you in the interest of making those search engine result pages more useful.  I understand how many people might find this useful. I don’t.

You are probably aware thousands of companies are gathering information about your activity on the web.  They sell this data, usually without your permission.  Then again, so do credit card companies, car dealers, and others.  That’s not my issue.  It’s the damn algorithms.  How is one to discover new stuff if everything one sees is the result of an algorithm having decided what to serve me based on my viewing and purchasing habits?  I want to hear opinions which conflict with my own and find products that are unlike those I’ve bought before.  When I search, I want to be surprised with what I find, not reminded of the roads I’ve traveled before.

No business points today other than this:  while we may serve our customers’ interests by feeding them a diet of things they’ve proven to like, it’s in their interests as well as ours to get them to try new things.  Part of what I feel is less optimal in this world is that many of us don’t listen to the things we don’t like because it challenges our world view or our sense of security.  Listening isn’t liking but a closed mind isn’t smart.  I block data to keep mine open – to prevent anyone -or any algorithm – from deciding how I see the world.  You?

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March 27, 2014 · 10:25 am

Is Anyone Paying Attention?

A few things crossed my desk here at the world headquarters and they prompted today’s screed. There really isn’t much new in the data I’m about to share but when you put these things together it raises a question.

It’s no shock to anyone who is paying any attention to the way most of us consume media that there have been some pretty big changes.  The first bit of business comes from TDG’s Video Behavior in the Age of Quantum Video, an extensive analysis of US adult broadband users and their interaction with digital media:

Late Millennials (18-24 years of age) now spend more of their daily ‘TV time’ watching online sources than live broadcast/cable sources (33% versus 29% respectively). This is unique to the Late Millennial segment, as even Early Millennials (25-34s) spend significantly more daily ‘TV time’ viewing live broadcast/cable than online sources (30% and 23% respectively).

Of course, when you look at older folks (55+) those numbers are still overwhelmingly the “old” way of consuming – 61% to 4%.  However, as the older folks leave the consumption scene (a polite way of saying die off), these habits will become more pervasive.  These preferences for interacting with content via digital channels is having an effect on cable TV providers.  This from SNL Kagan:

Announced today, the U.S. multichannel segment posted its first full-year decline in subscriptions, according to SNL Kagan estimates for cable, DBS and telco offerings at the end of 2013. While seasonally driven quarterly declines have become routine for industry watchers, the annual dip illustrates longer-term downward pressure even as economic conditions gradually improve.

According to the tally for the trio of platforms, service providers collectively shed 251,000 in 2013, dipping to approximately 100 million combined subs. The industry added 40,000 video subscriptions in the fourth quarter, slightly weaker on a year-over-year basis and not enough to offset the broader downward momentum.

So the “prime” consumer marketers target – young adults who are forming their brand and consumption habits – are consuming via alternate channels and are cord cutting.  They’re also not particularly focused on the TV they are watching.  A new study from Millward Brown looked at multiscreen use while watching TV:

For US respondents:

  • 45% of daily smartphone time is spent simultaneously with TV
  • 37% of daily laptop time is spent with TV
  • 55% of daily tablet time is spent simultaneously with TV

What they also found was that 30% of simultaneous use is looking at related content (what they term meshing) and 70% of simultaneous use is looking at unrelated content (stacking).  TV is background noise.  So here is the thought.

I don’t think there is a “second screen”.  While younger people’s brains are wired a little differently with respect to multitasking, they seem to have decided that they’re going to program their own channels, access them through a different pipe, and then micro-program within the programs themselves by paying selective attention to the menu of choices they’ve created.   I realize there’s not much new in that but the pace at which it seems to be happening is new and will only accelerate as better broadband is available.

What do you think about all this?

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March 5, 2014 · 9:27 am

Opinions Etched In Sand

When was the last time you changed your mind? I don’t mean about something trivial such as what you wanted for supper but about something important. What should our business model be? For whom should I cast my vote? I also don’t mean when was the last time you made a decision. We make those all the time. It’s what happens after the decision is taken that is our topic today.

English: Footprints in the sand My footprints ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I changed my mind about something the other day. It’s not really important to our discussion what it was, just that my view of the world moved from point A to point B. As I thought about that I realized that many people stick with their initial decisions about things all the time through thick and thin.  That might not be a bad thing, especially if you made a good choice at the time.  It’s a terrible thing, however, if you do so out of habit or sloth.  Things change and they do so more rapidly these days than at any time in our history.  If you made a decision five years ago some of what you took as fact when you did so probably is less right now.  Markets change.  Information changes.  Technology gets invented.  Stuff happens! If you make any investments you probably have that mindset.  Why doesn’t it extend to your business life (I’m ignoring politics here but…)?

A road you’ve driven down for years can suddenly have construction or a bridge out.  You have to alter your route or fly off the bridge.  Pretty obvious, right (I know – I’m a master of that!)?  Yet that thinking doesn’t apply to other aspects of many people’s lives.  Changing one’s mind is seen as weak or indecisive.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Strong people challenge their own beliefs. They look for facts, especially ones that contradict their own opinions, and avoid confirmation bias.  They keep an open mind when they go to make decisions and they test whether that decision is still valid based on changing circumstances.

My decisions aren’t etched in stone.  More like footprints etched in wet sand.  You can see what they are but when a strong wave comes along they might change.  I might be opinionated but I also accept that I might be wrong on some things.  Am I right about this?

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