1000 words argument essay due in 30 hours

When the R&B artist Rockwell sang the lyrics, “I always feel like somebody’s watching me,” in his hit single back in 1984, I bet he never thought those words would be even more relevant in today’s technological culture. Companies such as Google and Facebook are now “watching you” by tracking your search history and filtering through your emails to see what you are interested in. They are able to sell that information to advertisers so that the advertisements you see are relevant to your interests. Many individuals are currently fighting to rid our society of this “Big Brother” approach to advertising because they see it as invasive and unethical. I believe companies should be allowed to do use this technology and this practice should be put to even greater use because it benefits us as consumers, it benefits businesses, and it is not as much of an invasion of privacy as others might think it is.

Letting companies track what we search is actually quite beneficial to us as consumers. Think about it, no matter what website you are on, you are going to see some sort of advertisement. So if we are going to be forced to see an ad, why not make it an advertisement we care about? Let’s say you are an avid sports fan, one that purchases tickets to many games and frequents ESPN’s website. Wouldn’t you rather see sports related advertisements that include new and upcoming events? These ads might also include deals on the sports apparel you buy! Think of it as your own personal assistant that provides you with information about the things you love. By letting companies continue to track the way we browse the Internet, the advertisements we see will become more and more catered to our needs and wants.

Besides creating value to consumers, businesses can benefit from this technology too. It is important that businesses find new and innovative ways to maintain their success. In addition, businesses must be more efficient with their marketing strategies as their advertising budgets continue to shrink. Tracking consumer browser history helps solve both of these issues. In an article titled, “How to Drive ROI with Facebook’s Custom Audiences,” Todd Herrold explains that the ability to target different advertisements to specific people will increase the efficiency of a marketing campaign through “higher conversion rates and lower costs.” That’s like the ABCs of business right there – operate on low costs and receive a higher return on investment! A business couldn’t ask for a better scenario than that. I’m not saying this is the only strategy that will keep a business afloat, but if we ban the use of this innovative technology we would be depriving businesses of something that is proven to be more effective! Furthermore, a study performed by Digiday states that 64% of advertisers plan on increasing their budgets for social media advertising. If you combine that statistic with the power of tracking search history, the business solutions for marketing success are endless.

Moreover, if we are going to care about the wellbeing of businesses, they better care about what the things we value, right? One thing everyone values greatly is his or her right to privacy. I completely agree that what anyone decides to do during their alone time is nobody’s business but their own. So when you hear that a third party is tracking the things you browse on the Internet, its understandable to feel like your privacy is being violated. Well if you didn’t know already, there is an easy way to opt out of this setting. Both Google and Facebook allow you to go into your account settings and turn off their browser tracking so they cannot monitor your Internet activity. Your privacy can be easily secured with just few clicks of your mouse.

Also, many people argue that they once trusted these companies until they decided to invade their privacy. The truth is that these companies have had access to this “private” information the entire time. Now, they are just putting it to good use. They are simply using it to better enhance our advertising experience. I am somebody who is very technologically savvy and surfs the web a little less than 30 hours per week (a study by Marketing Charts records the average among Millennials to be 26 hours per week). So I would categorize myself as an experienced Internet surfer. In my experience, I have found that I am less annoyed with advertisements today than I used to be. I am much more inclined to watch a funny beer commercial than I am to pay attention to a banner ad for Depends adult diapers (which is one of the random ads I used to see before browser tracking was implemented). These days I would estimate 8 out of 10 ads are relevant to my current interests.

These issues of privacy and trust in companies have also spread beyond the borders of the US. Bell Canada, Canada’s largest telecommunications company, is currently in the process of implementing this technology and are receiving similar backlash such as complaints from consumers and even an investigation by one of the country’s privacy regulators. But Bell has taken tips from US giants like Google and Facebook on the right way to do it. In a recent article in the Financial Post, the president of Bell Mobility made a statement explaining, “We followed every guideline that they have. I believe we’re completely on side with any guideline that they’ve published ever and we’re actually doing something that consumers generally are in favor of.” So as you can see again, the goal of these companies is not to exploit you, rather, they are adding value to our lives.

Ultimately, I believe this debate goes beyond the issue of privacy. The underlying issue is that people don’t like change. Change is never a comfortable thing to deal with. But it is important that we embrace the changes that are coming, browser tracking being one of them. Technology is moving forward and we need to move along with it. Is the current system of tracking Internet search history perfect? Probably not – but we can turn any negative attitudes toward it into useful critiques that we can use to make this groundbreaking technology more appealing to everybody. We have the opportunity to erase the “annoying and aggravating” stigma that advertising has and turn it into something we can enjoy because with the help of browser tracking, ads will be specially catered to what we want to see.