You as the 'Product' - What Are You Worth?

I am speaking next week at Fresh Thinking Series and this relates to one aspect of what I will be speaking about. What is your Digital Footprint worth and to whom?

The Fresh Thinking Series 2 gets underway next Tuesday (1st November) in London before moving on to Manchester. Keep in touch with the debate as it happens by following us on Twitter – @FreshThinkers – and by following the hashtag #FreshThinkers. 

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 “We love FREE. So much so that we don’t tend to question what it means to get something for free; other than when it seems too good to be true, it probably is. This, coupled with the fact that we like to be a customer and not a product, raises some questions in our increasingly digital lives. If we are not exchanging cash for something but there is a trade, what are you paying with? Or to look at it another way, what ‘value’ are we giving away?

The reality is that in many of life’s interactions and online experiences you pay and therefore you are a customer. However, when you don’t pay for something, you move from being the customer to being the product sold.

For example, if advertisers are paying on Facebook, who is the customer?

And further, “What is Facebook for?” Is it there to help you share with friends? Or to monetise your social graph?

So here lies the rub. There is a customer ( the advertiser) who wants you to spend more time telling them everything about yourself so you can gain access to more offers, more personalisation, more context and “Live the Dream!”

However, everyone else can also see what you say and what you do. The more care you take with what you share may reduce your product worthiness to social media but may increase your value to your employer and friends. There is a balance to be struck and I’ll be exploring this further next week at Fresh Thinking.

In the meantime here are some more social rules…. 

  • Loyalty (to a service) is dead – you are free to your own boundaries
  • Free is not free – Engagement, Relationship and Conversation have a price
  • Open means you don’t want to hide and transparent means “it can be found” – but most people will not bother
  • Learn the social (digital and physical) rules that apply to you group today but be aware they will be different tomorrow
  • Money in a digital world has less ‘personal’ value than real money and is closer to swopping chickens for potatos.  Unlike cash, others are more prepared to cheat, lie, swindle and steal your digital money as it appears “virtual” and less actual.
  • Un-friending is acceptable – being un-friended is a reality
  • Realise your ability to annoy everyone
  • Digital has one speed – fast, there are no breaks but plenty of fuel”