The Five Consumer Power Strategies In The Online Environment And Data Privacy On Facebook

Power Over Relationship

Data Management and privacy:

The questionable data management practices of Facebook have provided stimulus for my first blog entry on data management and privacy.

Cambridge Analytica Scandal has ruined the reputation of Facebook. One of its whistle-blower revealed all the steps how Facebook was used as a social media platform by Cambridge Analytica to harvest profiles of around 50 to 60 million users in the US election campaign in 2016 to make Donald Trump the US president. However, Facebook first denied the scandal. Later, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook himself admitted that Facebook has breached the social media network users. He also described the actions that will be taken to maintain strong data security of users. He went on admitting the mistakes that Facebook did from 2015 while handling user data. I think that this initiative taken by Zuckerberg will not let users lose trust on Facebook. He said that it is the responsibility of the social media platform to protect user data. Facebook is a great platform for ensuring consumer empowerment. Different brands of product and services choose Facebook as a platform of digital marketing. However, marketers should be careful while sharing sensitive information in social media. I feel that both user and Facebook is responsible for data management and privacy.

After admitting Cambridge Analytica scandal, Mark explained the steps that he will take to protect data. All the applications that were accessed by large number of users and friend’s data in Facebook will be audited. If developer of any application denies to audit then Facebook will ban the developer. I feel that people should not lose trust on Facebook, as the initiative taken by Zuckerberg to protect data was strong. Due to the scandal, an US user of Facebook launched complaint against Facebook demanding for #delete Facebook campaign.

Facebook has reacted well to these issues saying that it would change the way users share data with third-party application. CEO said that it is the responsibility of Facebook to secure data and if it fails to do so then Facebook do not deserve to serve its users.

Marketers and brands that were using Facebook as a great platform to sell their products are now worrying about data privacy. Facebook is an open platform where consumers share opinions about a product or service. They even share personal data like bank details to complete online transactions of their products and services. Several e-commerce websites are linked with Facebook and brands demanded for its data security. I think that data security breaches have become common in today’s IT world. It depends on Facebook how it deals with breach issues. Zuckerberg promised that Facebook would ban the access of developers to apps that have remained dormant for more than three months.

Information

One of the co-founder of Thinkerbell, Adam Ferrier who has knowledge of consumer psychology said that anxiety is growing among consumers in the industry that data security is going out of control. According to the theory of consumer empowerment, consumers have five powers namely power over relationships, instruction, aggregation, participation and self-liberation. The scandals with Facebook will hamper the relationships between consumer and brand. Nevertheless, Facebook has taken steps to tighten its data security policy. It has limited access of developers to user data.

I would recommend Facebook as a digital marketing platform because it is has proved itself to be the best marketing platform in 2017. As a social media network platform people used to share their ideas and opinions freely about a product or service. The opinions can be viewed by other consumers and help influence their buying decision. Therefore, if entrepreneurs want to market products, Facebook would be a good choice. It will help to build a strong relationship between the brand and its consumer. It will also provide liberty to consumers to choose whether to opt-in or opt-out the brand community. Secondly, users can share information about their real life experience of products. Other consumers will be benefitted by these reviews. Sometimes consumers end up knowing more than sales person. The rating of a service also influence choice of product. The connected people can raise their voice for or against any situation collectively. Consumers can raise their voice freely if they feel that a brand is behaving irresponsibly. With Facebook as a platform, the consumers will be able to create an ‘anti-brand’ community that will expose the faults of products and unethical activities of the brand. Consumers have the right to interact with the brand community and not just listen to what it says. They should have their own voice. However, Facebook should take the responsibility to protect privacy of these data so that further security breaches do not happen and data can be kept safe and secured.

There are a number of people that are not influenced by advertisements, as they do not pay much attention to them. A number of people demand that they cannot differentiate between an ad and an advertorial.

The main idea behind this is that sponsored content, native advertising, branded content and advertorials camouflage for their success. The Atlantic was criticised for publishing a piece written by Church of Scientology. The critics argued that the publication blurred the line of difference between advertorial and advertising. However, The Atlantic argued that the publication contained a yellow label written, “Sponsored content” in it. But critics said that the label was not clear and prominent.

Aggregation

The Federal Trade Commission brought forward some guidelines in 2015 regarding native advertising. They reasserted that advertising should not be confused with news. However, it is argued that top label written sponsor content in it might not be clear and can confuse consumers. The readers might confuse between editorial and advertising. According to theory of consumer empowerment, consumers can freely post contents related to a product or service. But FTC laid down a code of guidelines that content presented by consumers must be authenticated and unfiltered. The reason behind it is that marketers might face NAD challenge. All users and social media channels must abide by the codes but presently it is voluntary. For the first time in Australia, users will be able to understand whether a post in Instagram feed is paid by a brand. The new code laid down by the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) applies to all social media users. Danger lies when Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) breach laws laid down by Australian Consumer Law (ACL). But till now, Australia have not faced any cases against social media influencers. I think the law would be effective as the brands in Australia Re increasingly turning to influencers for promoting their products that has led to young people becoming their own ad agencies.

Native advertising is defined as use of online ads to market a product. I find that this paid form of advertising is being used lately. Whenever we open e-commerce websites or other websites online ads pops up. It is also found in social media feeds. Researchers have found consumers view native ads 53% more than display ads. They have also found that it has increased consumer purchase by 18%. In today’s digital world, consumer empowerment has become a central area of research. This mainly focuses on the interface of business society and the advancement of public policy. In the act of native advertising, the different kinds of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and other platforms prioritize their medium with the help of different forms of advertisements. These advertisements are meant for the purpose of viewing of the customers and thus would be able to put an influence over the customers. The main purpose of publishing these forms of advertisements is meant for the public who would view them. With the impact of these kinds of advertisements, it has been seen that these brands were able to attract 25% of more consumers through the use of social media platforms. Different consumers have mainly viewed these native advertisements more than any other form of editorial content. The different other forms of mobile media buyers have reported that the use of native advertisements were effective towards the achievement of the set goals of branding. With the high use of native brands, the different companies have seen a major form of upward shift in the intent of purchases rather than the advertisements produced from banners.

If I would have worked in influencer marketing then I would have been very strict for ensuring that the sponsored contents are labelled. I would charge social influencers money for breaching ACL. An influencer is charged $220,000 per post and a brand is charged $1.1m. This is because theory of consumer empowerment has given consumers the right to choose among the products and services that are marketed in social media. But that does not mean Brands and marketers will take this advantage to exploit them and use influencers to sell their product. Researches have found that two out of five publishers do not abide by the Federal Trade Commission guidelines for identifying sponsored contents.

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