You're not worth a penny!

On a recent flight to L.A. I read a fascinating article in the _Financial Time_s concerning the business of data brokering. For those unaware, data brokerages are essentially firms that scour the web in search of people’s personal data, which they sort into various categories and then sell to businesses that are seeking insight on their target customers.

According to one individual quoted in the article, we're literally 'not worth much at all', with brokers trading basic top-level personal data like names, addresses and phone numbers for as little as $0.0005 per person. As expected, really specific details, such as information on people that are suffering from diseases like cancer and depression, to data on prenatal and postnatal women, can be purchased from anywhere upwards of $0.26 per person. Feels good knowing you’re worth much less than a second hand 10-pack of Crayola sticks, doesn’t it?

Anyway, my point is that making sense of this Big Data is now seen by many industries as the most economical answer to revealing what their target audiences really want. The economic downturn has made businesses very cautious about investing in traditional forms of R&D, to the point where many have concluded that working out massive amounts of consumer data can reveal a much truer picture of product demand. It is also touted to be significantly more cost effective and accurate than putting thousands of man hours and capital towards these more traditional means of research.

In the years to come, it’s pretty obvious that we can expect 1000s of companies to make more use out of Big Data. Industries from Oil & Gas right the way through to Pharmaceuticals are already taking advantage of it. In these industries, however, Big Data seems heralded as the next best thing since sliced bread, but in industries such as Public Relations, I think we have a long way to go before we really see it make a disruptive impact.

I've asked myself various questions such as: can Big Data have any impact on our day-to-day business? Could it be used in such a way to help create more targeted    campaigns or company messages for our clients? Personally, I think that we are some way off before we will be able to achieve this because the media is constantly undergoing change, making it impossible to predict on a forward basis. Nevertheless, these questions are certainly interesting to ponder over; it would certainly be fascinating to hear your thoughts on the subject!

(Image: Images Money via Flickr Creative Commons)