While I understand that privacy is no longer the new norm , as Mark Zuckerberg stated, this trend does raise certain concerns. These include privacy, the ratio of signal to noise across social media, and the amount of data that Google, Facebook and others will capture, track and sell about us to third parties including advertisers. No doubt some people will wonder at what point does the technology we buy come to own us (a new take on the old adage, perhaps?) Are you concerned about your privacy? After all, I can choose what I want to know and what I don’t. MORE >>

The next interview on The Engaging Brand podcast is about online privacy with Terence Craig - co author of Privacy and Big Data. Ahead of the show Terence has shared with us 3 facts about online privacy which we should all know. Even if you trust the company you are sharing your information with, do you trust the person that buys your data from them, or the company they merge with, the government agency that serves them with a warrant, or the 14 year old that hacks their server? topic I think is a growing concern and an area which we need to consider more and more. MORE >>

They buy what they want, when they want and how they want – and they increasingly use retailers’ physical shops (that cost money to maintain) as product showrooms. Best Buy’s mobile code strategy. consumer electronics chain Best Buy is an excellent example. Already extremely successful with text-to-buy campaigns, the retailer is moving full-force into mobile codes. Connect the dots, and best Buy is a textbook example of how retailers can use mobile codes to achieve their business objectives. Not this year. This year mobile changes all the rules! MORE >>

You can't throw a rock and not hit a concern about privacy and the use of our data online. From newer media initiatives (think Facebook Beacon ) to cyber-attacks (see what Sony has been dealing with ), not a week goes by that some sort of privacy breach or plans for a corporation to do something funky with consumer's data isn't in the news. Sorry, I'm not buying that. The other side of privacy. The other side of privacy is knowing and understanding that whatever you put online is now in the public domain. You are the other side of privacy. privacy. MORE >>

In the tug of war between privacy and personalization, there can sometimes be a visceral reaction to learning that a company to whom you may not have explicitly granted permission to learn details about you actually has that information - even if it's public. Unfortunately, many people are likely to download it, thinking the result will ensure greater privacy, when in actuality all it does is ensure off-target ads with a crappy experience. Irrelevant ads are all those who fill up your screen with offers you would never accept, products you would never buy, and sheer randomness. MORE >>