What the GDPR tells us about social media…
There’s just over one month to go until the new GDPR regulations go into effect in the EU. Per CNET, the GDPR is defined, as follows-
The General Data Protection Regulation is a sweeping law that gives European citizens more control over their personal data and seeks to clarify rules and responsibilities for online services with European users. It replaces the EU’s previous directive governing data protection, passed in 1995, and makes some dramatic changes to existing conventions, including:
- Unifying the rules for how companies should handle the data of European citizens
- Expanding the scope of what’s understood to be personal data
Clarifying the roles and responsibilities of those who control and process data - Streamlining enforcement authority to one supervisor per member state
Compelling companies to notify consumers of a data breach within 72 hours - Intensifying the penalties for noncompliance
As I read this description, above, I began to find a striking conflict between this specific set of regulations and the advertising options offered by social media companies. Facebook, for example, touts its ability to target ads at a truly granular level but with the GDPR, this isn’t so easy to achieve.
Reuters originally reported that in response to GDPR, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, “stopped short of committing to it as the standard for the social network across the world.” But as noted by TechCrunch, Zuckerberg quickly refuted this claim by stating-
“Overall I think regulations like this are very positive. We intend to make all the same controls available everywhere, not just in Europe. Is it going to be exactly the same format? Probably not. We’ll need to figure out what makes sense in different markets with different laws in different places. But let me repeat this, we’re going to make all the same controls and settings available everywhere, not just in Europe.”
To me, this reads like a strong PR person got to him and coached him into what he should be stating. He dances around any concrete commitment and the reason is simple…if GDPR were employed in the US, the company’s entire business model would crash and burn (which I have previously argued it should anyway).
But Facebook is so politically connected in the States that they will continue to be protected by corrupt politicians…so, the company likely isn’t that worried about these regulations in the US. But what I don’t feel is discussed enough is what would occur if this was enacted here. What would Facebook and Twitter, WhatsApp and others do if they (suddenly) couldn’t sell their BS ads they way they do where they willingly and eagerly share our personal data?
But I feel I must be redundant about one point from my previous posts. What is astounding to me is that paid social media marketing does not and cannot drive a positive net return on investment. It is a flagrant waste of money with zero ROI potential and I continue to challenge anyone to prove me wrong. But all the while, this failure of a business model is built upon spying on individuals and creating demographic profiles which the average consumer does not want these companies to have (whether they consent to it or not with nonsense privacy policies).
Finally, as Mark Ritson pointed out this week, “Last month, Reuters polled a representative sample of Americans and asked them if they wanted to see more targeted advertising. Only 9% (presumably those working in tech, marketing and sales) said they did. A massive 63% said they wanted to see less targeted advertising in the future.” Americans don’t want personalized ads. But let’s not confuse this point from understanding that personalized experiences are a different story.
Personalized ads are based on a company spying on me. Personalized experiences are based on the behaviors of the consumer, directly. For example, if I purchase a toy for my kid, it makes perfect sense to recommend an up sell to purchase batteries. If I have a 30-day supply of a product, it makes complete logical sense to send a refill reminder towards the end of that period of time. Using a preference center where readers can choose which content they prefer to receive is much less-expensive and less-intrusive than guessing what they want based on their gender and age group.
What is so complicated about letting customers choose their journey? Why do companies think they are really ‘onto something’ just because they ascertained data about you and me? My guess? I think marketers love their toys…all marketers do. And the more toys you can give to a marketer, the more engaged and greater their spend will be. Positive net ROI means nothing, so long as they can have fun creating charts.
