You may not hear about this a lot but it’s a big move as consumers are getting tired of being marketed and sold.  I spent many years in sales and also time as a developer and of course I have respect for both but today the methodologies of “chasing” consumers down is growing old.  We don’t want to be chased and “scored” so we end up with more data errors to fix, it makes work for us. image We don’t like it anymore.  I have no problem with ads that show items relative to something I am reading as that’s been going on forever and that’s smart selling and a sale is much better when the functionality uses “attraction” rather than what we have today, massive data hunts to find potential customers. 

I have a phone that rings with automated computer messages that doesn’t quit.  There’s not a day that goes by without at least a couple of these and the no call list doesn’t work work anymore.  The origins of where the calls originate is deceitful as well as you can’t tell what the call is about until you answer the phone.  As soon as you respond the algorithm kicks in and starts hammering you.  This is obnoxious and most now have had these and they get ignored so why keep doing it?  The calls are either random dials or from a data base someone purchased.  If you are talking to your insurance company call center, then you get a bunch of algorithms analyzing your voice to sell to some behavioral analytics organization. 

I have an inbox that’s full of junk solicitations and even when I used the unsubscribe, it doesn’t work on some of them.  I realize that we all live with junk mail and being a blogger I’m going to get more of it than perhaps the average consumer as well, but the volume definitely has kicked up and again I do the same thing with my spam filter as best I can.  It’s getting old.  I have done marketing and there are some who do it right out there and send an email allowing one to “subscribe” if they want and that’s ok as I can ignore it or choose to be added without being forced fed. 

We suffer from a government that fails to recognize a lot of this and thus so it just keeps rolling.  As a matter of fact, the White House communication bot is starting to resemble this and people realize any more they don’t get any action or responses and fewer are taking time to add themselves to a list as almost email you get anymore from the White House wants you to type in your name, etc. to support something and I’m sure it goes to create a new data base the White House can use to help determine what people are thinking, it’s the same process we see all over the web it’s not different at all and when nothing is done, people quit and move on as they realize this is just another site taking in data.  As a matter of fact, the site has even used what I call “junk science” numbers when trying to support climate control and put numbers out there without science just as a way to keep people to join in, and when you can see right through this it will end up hurting the campaign when one feels their intelligence is being insulted.  We’re not that stupid.  So again when no results or attention is given, people wise up and figure out that this is yet one more site gathering information about us in some form or another. 

Our Consumer Financial Protection Agency is being run by what I call a loose cannon as well as he’s functioning the same way that other executives do in the fact that they think they need to run out and create a data base..getting it..same stuff again.  I’m beginning to think that all want to be an under achiever version of the NSA (grin).  So far the agency has done a few things but so far it’s all been low hanging fruit that does not require understanding or use of much technology which is better than nothing but very limited indeed when you look to the futures as he will be obsessed with collection of data and not know what direction he will even go with it…a good time to check out some of the videos at the Killer Algorithm page for more clarification on how some of this works.

Richard Cordray Yet One More “Algo Duped” Government Executive Sucked In To Virtual Values and Unable to Locate the “Real World” Now Creating Huge Data Base Of All US Consumer Credit Information…

I do like technology and software as I would not have been a developer myself and when I get “true” efficiencies and items that help me with life and doing my work, I like it, but sadly that’s not what’s out there as a whole today.  Sure we still have good stuff coming out but there’s also the bottom feeder elements that just want to buy and sell data for easy money.  This is where I get off the boat and try to inform others as to what to look for and when to be a skeptic for sure. 

As bad as the data selling has become, it’s affecting all parts of the economy and consumers with consumers getting the worse end of it.  It’s funny as I read the marketing news articles all the time saying apps and wearables are going to take over.  Well they won’t until there’s some trust developed here and that’s the problem.  If people are continuously scored and that data is sold, then we don’t trust and especially more so when we don’t know who’s doing the scoring or what data and type of query they are using.  I thought some of the early monitoring apps and devices were interesting until I saw what was going on and there are still some devices and apps that are good that don’t eat up your data for sale too.   Actually I try to give those who don’t sell data coverage as best I can here. 

The True Dangers With Corporate Obsessive Algorithmic Scoring of US Consumers - It Creates More Flawed Data For Sale And Makes Banks and Companies Wealthier As the Pace of Inequality Accelerates …

I try to balance myself with both of what I read on the web and I realize there’ some hype mixed in there and then I go out and talk to folks in the real world and surprisingly  enough, there’s a big difference most of the time.  I’m not finding people falling all over themselves to monitor their activity and using mobile apps, just the opposite, they are running from it.  I have people asking me all the time about “staying under the radar” and what’s the best way to do it.  Of course that’s a broad question but many ask about specific apps and services, and I tell the truths as best I know it as that’s what I should do. 

Anyway, marketers for consumer apps and devices should maybe give this some thought, and not only from the marketing side but also the design as all models and a proof of concept don’t work, as people don’t work that way, we are not algorithms.  I can see folks when they get their heads buried in their concept and wanting to sell software and make money being a bit over taking with their thoughts and that happens, but go talk to the guy on the street once in a while and that helps bring you back to earth as the last thing most consumers want is something else they have to worry about with privacy and then also making sure they have time to interact with the data. 

“People Don’t Work That Way” A World of Broken Software Models That Don’t Align To the Human Side,Too Much Push At Times With Only A Proof of Concept That Fails in the Real World..

We end up in many circles coming down to the reality that this is all about money as a consumer should not have to behave like an algorithm or function like a “proof of concept” model that some developer has in their head, but that’s where we are at a lot of the time.  When the pressure is on from wellness coaches and employers with either penalties or money to participate we run as we know the real reason is all about money.  WebMD with their portal and Penn State tried that one out and it didn’t work.

It wasn’t the fact that they had to force everyone to get healthy but it was more about having an adequate amount of data to sell.  It would have never played out the way it did if that were not the behind the scenes goal.  I saw right through it as I’m an old query monster and I get every bit of it as I visualize data trails and queries, still, even though I don’t developer anymore and that will probably never go away.  

Now WebMD has a platform out there to collect data…hmmmm…well you are on your own there as I don’t trust it anymore than the Mayo Apple app that takes your information in but it can’t come out, like the old roach motel slang, “data checks in but it can’t check out”.  Of course we know that Mayo supplies Optum Labs all kinds of medical record data to scour through and then charge device and drug companies fees to dig through it to see if they find information relative to the products they produce.  Mayo is doing this as they need the money looking as fast declining revenue streams and a drop in philanthropy efforts. 

Penn State Wellness Program Causing Issues With Implementation, A Look At Various Insurance Subsidiary Entities Along With Merger and & Acquisition Impact - Subsidiary Watch

“The plan requires nonunion employees, like professors and clerical staff members, to visit their doctors for a checkup, undergo several biometric tests and submit to an extensive online health risk questionnaire that asks, among other questions, whether they have recently had problems with a co-worker, a supervisor or a divorce. If they don’t fill out the form, $100 a month will be deducted from their pay for noncompliance. Employees who do participate will receive detailed feedback on how to address their health issues.

What’s more, they argued, the online questionnaire required them to give intimate information about their medical history, finances, marital status and job-related stress to an outside company, WebMD Health Services, a health management firm that operates separately from the popular consumer site, WebMD.com.”

So like it or not that’s the truth on what’s going with more running for the exits than going for the wearables and devices recording data and it will stay that way until something is done to pass a law to require all data sellers to buy a license and keep an updated page on a Federal site on what kind of data they sell and to who as well as pay an excise tax on it. 

When it comes to running for the exits, I’m right there with everyone else, and I like good intelligent data and how it can help with decisions and makes me smarter so when you have a data person like me running to the exits, well maybe it’s time for a reality check here and work on developing trust as nothing will change until this is done. Again, being I’m an old query monster that visualizes data and it’s use in business easily I’m probably at the front of the line as I can see in my head what’s going on so my fear is probably even greater as it’s crystal clear for me to see.  Some people are just born with that knack and when I learned to code it accelerated that knack in my brain and thus I speak  from a viewpoint of honest and extreme logic and that’s what you get a the Medical Quack.  BD

0 comments :

Post a Comment

 
Top
Google Analytics Alternative