!!! Click Me !!!

This Sunday morning as I spread The New York Times out across the kitchen table I noticed a special section called The Privacy Project. 

Inside were a number of essays on privacy written across themes like … Does Privacy Matter? What Do They Know, How Do They Know It? What Should Be Done? What Can I Do? 

In addition to the written pieces, there was a nice little graphical narrative by a Brooklyn illustrator named Rose Wong. 

The title of the piece is “!!! Click Me !!!”

Visual stories can be open to interpretation, so I discussed it with my teenage daughter and here is what we think it means …

In the first frame, a person shows interest in a star that they see on their mobile phone. The person is a metaphor for a consumer or internet user. The star is a metaphor for digital content or marketing. 

The next frame shows two stars, representing the way digital content gets increasingly personalized based on “user interest”. In a way, the star is showing interest back to the consumer. 

In the third frame, though, the star's interest becomes disproportionate as more data is collected about the user. In our version, the consumers’ location data is being collected without her consent. 

The final frame shows the extreme effects of algorithmic publishing. A filter bubble is creating an experience that is nothing but stars … until the consumer gets interested in circles. 

As a content marketer, in my opinion, there is a deep truth in this simple story. 

We need to be careful to use interest-based targeting in a way that is proportional to the amount of interest shown, and only when consent is given. 

Limited interest should not be mistaken for unlimited consent. 

More here …

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/13/opinion/click-me.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/10/opinion/internet-privacy-terms.html