Money vs. Moral Outrage - The Real Dilemma.

Our own mental models of experience and perception of value exchange are complex. The Social Dilemma served as an example of the “voice” of the concerned as it relates to privacy and manipulation of perspectives, including the reinforcement of biases. For those of us with decades of experience in the industry, we’ve known, and in many instances used the algorithms and data for the benefit of our clients, while recognizing the issues with data privacy.

Here’s the reality. Nothing is free. We’re the product. Our stories, the narrative of our lives, is effectively the monetization engine for platforms such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, TikTok, Pinterest, etc. It’s this “free” service that requires our content in order to align our behaviors, our desires and our own “idiosyncracies” to the advertising model that underpins the revenue model of these companies. The chorus of concerns over privacy and manipulation by “Big Tech” are, in essence, a hollow argument when we take into consideration the perspectives of the users of the platforms. The reality is straight forward, yet the clarion call to action versus the willingness to change behavior are juxtaposed.

In ’19 Facebook’s avg. gross revenue per profile per month was $2.39 USD. Think about that for a moment. This is the advertising revenue generated per profile in return for collecting personal data and reselling it to companies in order to target specific behaviors or predicted needs based on look-alike modeling. For context, my drink of preference, a @Starbucks Venti Vanilla Chai Tea Latte is $5.67. The argument of “moral outrage” as it relates to our concerns over privacy rights rings hollow when survey after survey demonstrate an overwhelming bias toward not paying for services such as Facebook, Google, etc. On average, < 25% of individuals would be willing to pay for Facebook or other platforms that use behavioral targeting. The counter argument entails approx. 75%+ of individuals being unwilling to pay for these services. On an annual basis at $2.45 per month, the total cost would be < $30 or the equivalent of 5 Starbucks Chai Tea Lattes per year.

Context matters. For those that are concerned over privacy and platform bias, the reality is you’re either willing to offset the cost of access with your personal funds or you’re willing to use your personal data as the equivalent of your currency.