Part I: being in digital/ information age
For more than one time, I felt overwhelmed by being in Digital Age, working as an analyst for a start-up internet company in Amsterdam. The company was born in 2004, as a web messenger for students and people who cannot chat at school or office due to the block of MSN or Yahoo Messenger. I knew the company, e-messenger at that time because one of my closed girlfriends was among the first 4 people at the company. Once in a while, I came to
eBuddy, another name and saw the interface was different, with I know later called Oberon. I knew Meebo and see it nice as well, but I used eBuddy just because I knew it first and my friends worked there. And, there are several chatting sites that I know later when I come to eBuddy, although my job is not relevant to Products. If you go to the site, there's almost nothing except for a box that you can log in using your MSN, AOL, Yahoo,... to chat on web (the site is unblocked to a great extent). Another great thing that I only knew when I came into the company is that you can view all of your contacts, in Gmail, MSN, Yahoo, Facebook,... by creating an ID (since I am not very into chatting). The site has no content. However, we (eBuddy) have more than 24 millions users worldwide, up to the beginning of 2010. The revenue when I entered the company came from advertising. Yet, advertisers do not pay money for nothing, they pay for the brand awareness (CPM), for cost per click (CPC), cost per action (CPA).
I myself ignore ads, however when an ad is targeted to you, it's not bad or even it's good to me. By having an ID to see all friends in all chat accounts, the company needs to know your date of birth and if you are male or female to match with the information on Facebook. This makes sense to me so I gave my information. Once, the system knowing my age, my gender and of course my location, it shows me ads that advertisers target on, like shoes, cosmetics, or campaigns for young people (since I am under 26). The targeted campaigns pay more money to my company. So, imagine that you have posted a blast on Facebook, for example "I want a pair of UGG" or "I am going to Nice". You now can imagine what you can see from Facebook right? It will show you ad on shoes, especially UGG, or showing flights and hotels in Nice. Even if you don't have that blast, the system still can see if you're male or female, and what age, to show you fashion stuff. Plus, you have done a lot of tests and used a lot of apps like you're compatible with orange color, or New York is your city,... Then it will show you orange skirts, underwear and trips to NYC. There are tons of ways to match the information and sell to advertisers.
I once found a very nice and reasonable room right in the centre of Amsterdam. It turned out to be a scam and the email address of that woman or man disappeared after a few days. I asked my colleague to track if the email address was made in Holland, UK or somewhere else. A plan was drawn in my to find out who but I gave it up, I'd prefer my own safety and people already know a lot about scamming in Amsterdam. Another case, a colleague of mine lost his Facebook account. Someone stole his and upload a picture of a groom and bride. I even said 'congratulations!' to my colleague when just seeing a small picture. He sent email to Facebook to ask for it back. Since Facebook is like your face and every of you, about you. (Unless you create a lot of accounts with different email addresses to play FarmVille or whatever it is). Facebook hadn't replied for more than two weeks. They have more than 40 millions to take care of! My CEO, of course hanging around a lot in NYC and San Franciso sent an email to a person he knew and the account was given back after less than two days. I might be naive, but that event made me feel like these days everthing of you can be showed and lost to others. Yet, if you know the right people in the digital/ internet area, you are saved.
Part II: a special report from The Economist on the Overwhelming of Data
Part III: a little of what I am doing (to be written when I have time)
