Today I’m going to cover persona information. Together we will explore what Personal Information is and why it is important to us all. I will also show examples of how our personal information is used both online and offline
Now I have explained what I will be covering in this article I better explain why? Earlier this week I was writing a beginners guide to Gmail. While setting up a Gmail account for that and potential further demo. Google asked me how they could use my personal information to improve my experience of using Google. I realised that it would be a good topic to discuss
What Is Personal Information
Personal Information is any piece of information or data that can be used to identify an individual such as a name, email address or National Insurance Number. Many countries have legislation to protect your personal information such as GDPR in the European Union or the Data Protection act 2018 in the UK.
Now that we know what personal information why do companies want it?
Why Do Online Companies Want Your Personal Information?
Online companies want your personal details as it helps them to either sell their own products or sell you someone else products through advertising.
Amazon is probably the best example of a company that uses personal information to target specific goods and services at a specific customer. They keep data on any goods you purchase or services they use.
That is how Amazon can regularly email you about products you would be interested in buying. It isn’t just Amazon who are doing this. Both Netflix and Spotify will use the data they collect while you are using their services to recommend other content on their platform that you would likely enjoy.
Good examples for advertising would be Google who uses all the data they collect to target the adverts you are most likely to interact with as Google gets paid each time you click on an ad. So it is in Google interest to only advertise goods or services which you are likely to be interested in.
As you will see in the next section. It isn’t just the big online companies that do this.
An Offline Example
It isn’t just online companies that make use of your personal information. The biggest supermarket in the UK is Tesco and they have a loyalty scheme called Tesco Clubcard. Most regular customers with Tesco will have a Clubcard which they use every time they shop. For every pound, they spend they get 1 point which is worth one penny. Every quarter these points are converted into vouchers which can then used by the Tesco Clubcard member to buy goods from Tesco.
Sounds like a good deal, but what does Tesco get from it? Your purchase history is recorded against your Clubcard and the Clubcard is linked to your details. It allows them to generate offers for you personally. It also allows Tesco to model customers with similar tastes and interest to model our likely buying patterns. Allowing the company to be run more efficiently.
What Should I Do About My Personal Data?
I can’t tell you what to do. This is a personal decision that only you can make for yourself. What I can share is my thought process. I try to determine a balance between what information I’m willing to share to improve the personalisation of the service that companies like Google or Microsoft will offer with their software or services.
Conclusion
You might want to share no data and get none of the benefits. Or you might be happy to share everything to get all of the benefits. That is your decision to make that responsibility lies on you solely,
What are your thoughts on sharing your personal information especially in return for personalised services? While you are down in the comment section. While you are down there please like this article.