Can advertisers hear me? Well, to answer this holistically, yes. As trends appear, advertisers follow. The digital world has opened new realms that continue to grow daily. According to Statista.com, the number of mobile phone users is expected to pass 5 billion by this year. If you are one of the 5 billion that owns a cell phone and have allowed any one of your apps to access your microphone, yes, we can hear you.
We get it. It's creepy. But, if you look at the big picture, we're just trying to sell you things that you wanted to buy anyway. Just kidding... no but really. When we sign up for apps or free websites and agree to the terms and conditions that no one ever reads, we are signing and making a trade to get something for free. You are also giving away what you put out there. Those of us who have grown up with social media and the internet have heard it a thousand times.
"Once it's out there, you can't take it back."
That's the funny thing about the internet. We post, update and share almost everything we are interested in, or do on a daily basis and then we are shocked when people have this information.
I did a study in one of my college classes where we asked students, family and friends through a survey how they felt about advertisers having their personal information. As you may guess, they were not happy. However, we also asked the same people what they did to manage their privacy settings through internet sites and social media apps. Surprisingly, not a lot of people care enough to go in and change their settings to protect what they can of their information.
Google Home, Amazon Alexa and other smart devices we talk to are always listening. We welcome these devices into our home because we choose to. Notice how feelings change when we are willing to have a device record us, rather than allowing microphone access through an app. Same concept, just executed differently.
How people think has a lot to do with this industry and may be a big part of why I love what I do. Advertising gets a bad rep and I am determined to turn that around as I grow through my career.
*Mic drop*
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