Data is amazing. You know that already. You’re told it every moment of every day. We are literally told or shown by ESPN, our kids report cards, our treadmills, our wristwatch, our Alexa, our Google, our Siri, our phones, and our apps that data is here and has the answer. In some cases this is… Read More
We’re starting something new, a weekly collection of some of the stories that we saw or found interesting but, for some reason, didn’t have time to address meaningfully (by which we mean throw as many gifs at as possible). This week is heavy on government action, which is a good indication of the trends we’re… Read More
Let’s talk about values. We sometimes talk about “use cases” for data, which is a shorthand for “how do you intend to make this particular information set perform a new category of work or combine with other information sets to perform a new category of work.” It’s important, as we discuss in Data Leverage, to… Read More
This week I completed a book by Shoshana Zuboff that my brother, James, had pointed me toward. I had also recently completed two other books that have been on my list for quite some time. The timing of each of these books and their futurist warning, deep research, and outstanding storytelling caused a flurry of… Read More
Really, people? The EU goes through a forty-year process to craft the most meaningful development in privacy law to protect individual privacy, trade, culture, and exchange on the internet against the Information-Industrial Complex, and then 20 months later passes a law that will dramatically strengthen the market position of….the Information Industrial Complex? In fact, the… Read More
One of the questions we hear most frequently is “what are we doing wrong?” We almost always try to flip that question around into “what can we do better,” because we’re big believers in the notion that providing goals, rather than chastising, creates the right kind of mindset about data privacy and managing a data… Read More
It’s that time of year again – the FTC has released its report on enforcement activity in 2018, including its efforts at enforcing privacy promises. It was, as you might expect, a busy year, with major proceedings instituted against a number of high-profile entities like Uber, Paypal, and Facebook. Although the total amount in fines… Read More
We don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but every once in a while we’ll write a blog post about GDPR or CCPA or American data law. Yes, we do spend an awful lot of time talking about the law in Europe and the United States. That’s probably not a big surprise, given that this is… Read More
Last week, we had the chance to attend Cardlinx’s forum in San Francisco, one of the four or so they host worldwide every year. Cardlinx is an industry association for merchants, credit card issuers, and rewards/loyalty programs, with an eye towards establishing industry standards for “mobile payments, in-store offers, card-linking” and other technology tied to… Read More
It’s hard to explain the monumental character of the changes ushered in by the worldwide web, which turned 30 years old yesterday (and so, by its own cultural standards, is too old to exist anymore). Some have compared the web, along with the internet, to the invention of the car, or the harnessing of electricity,… Read More
Speaking last week on an industry panel, I advised the audience of digital marketing professionals to “Stop doing creepy things with your data and your customers’ data.” To which I was told by the moderator, “Well, ‘creepy’ is a little subjective, though, isn’t it?” “You know it when you see it,” I replied. About five… Read More
Facebook is a paradox. I don’t know of anyone, anymore, who says that they love the platform or that it delivers them meaningful connections to others. Addicted? Sure. Attached to the convenience of a simple format for communication? Yeah, that too. But genuinely happy with what Facebook is and how it delivers its product? Nope. … Read More
One of the issues we confront with new clients is the difficulty in getting information from one segment or division of your business to another. Data “silos” are extremely common, with unnecessary or unhelpful barriers between groups creating the kind of friction that diminishes your ability to achieve goals. That can mean difficulty in getting… Read More
We attended the Local Search Association’s 2019 conference in Dana Point, California. The LSA is an advocacy organization focused on helping local businesses establish visibility with customers and partner businesses, both through marketing and through maximizing data-driven tools. It’s a group that we have a long relationship with, and the conference is a great opportunity… Read More