The Digital Echo


Internet, they said, was an ocean (or cloud) of knowledge. The Net was invented for free and smooth transfer of information, thoughts and ideas. But somewhere along the way came algorithms, data collection, & AI and now we are being served information conforming to our likes, interests and digital behaviours. The more we use the Net, instead of swimming in an ocean of knowledge, we sit inside an echo chamber confirming our own biases.


Let’s take the 3 common use cases we engage on the Net - reading news, social media, and search (for information) engine


Discovery of news on the Net happens mostly through aggregator platforms like Google News or through the home pages of the news portals. Apart from the top/latest News, have you ever noticed sections that mention - News for you, top picks, etc? These are News articles that is shown to you basis the past content that you’ve consumed.


Ah! Social Media, the favourite waste of time for most of the digital natives. We spends hours chatting with friends, liking, sharing, commenting and also putting out the most inane stuff of our lives for everyone to see. Did you ever notice that you get to see more and more posts and updates of users whose posts or tweets you engaged with? The lesser you engage with a friend’s update, the lesser you’ll see him/her. The more you interact with a specific brand, the more you’ll get to see about them.


Did you know that your search results will be different from mine even though we might have search using the exact keywords/phrases? Yes! It is true. Try it out with couple of other folks. Your search results depend on lots of factors like - devices, location, browser,….and most importantly, your personal search history. (SEO folks, please note)



In all the above use cases, the algorithms and AI are in play. This means our view of the world is based on what we have done in the past (Karma catching up, perhaps) online.


So what does it mean for marketers and brands,


  • In case of content marketing, always lede with content that is in the area of interest of your target audience
  • In case of advertising, depending on the objective (awareness/engagement/sales), make sure to target the audience is are different / similar to your existing audience set
  • In case of Search marketing (SEO), make sure that you do proper research on what your user searches for. Check the search rankings basis their search behaviour, not yours


The digital consumers keep experiencing bandwagon fallacy. The objective of any brand is to get onto that consumer’s bandwagon 



pic sources: Wikipedia and Voxpol.eu

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Best Indian websites - 2007

Image
Hi, This was an article that appeared in PC World India Nice stuff Santosh ------------------------------------ Technology will dominate the future and the web is clearly one of its greatest manifestations. Forget the dotcom bust that many sceptics will remind you of The Web is going to become our way of life in India . There are enough statistics to point to the rapid growth of the Internet in India – number of connections, e-mail accounts, transaction revenue – all very convincing. But who needs statistics? Just a quick look around will reveal how web is fast replacing traditional brick-n-mortar operations. Be it picking new stocks or new friends, finding a job or a bride, there’s a web way to things that is proving far more effective, and rewarding. Websites today are built with robust understanding of users and available technology. They purposefully pursue fulfilling the needs of their audience but are grounded in strong business reality. And hence, unlike the fairy-tail era gone
Read more

10 Reasons Marketing Strategy should include the Internet

It may seem surprising but many companies, big and small, have yet to develop a rational Internet marketing strategy. Considering the Internet has now been used effectively by marketers since 1994, any organization without a strategy to utilize the Internet for marketing is probably making a big mistake. For any organization that still does not have a meaningful Internet marketing effort we offer 10 Reasons why you should. 1. The Go-To Place for Information Possibly the most important reason why companies need to have an active Internet marketing strategy is because of the transformation that has occurred in how customers seek information. While customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends to gather product information, an ever-increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary knowledge source. In particular, they use search engines as their principle portal of knowledge as search sites have become the leadi
Read more

The Disappearance of Gully Cricket: A Reflection on Changing Times

Image
Gully cricket , once an integral part of Indian childhood, is now a fading memory. In the 80’s and early 90s, the streets were more than mere public spaces; they were stages for dreams. A bat, a ball, and a group of eager kids were all that was needed. Stumps were supported by stones, or stones themselves became stumps, or it could be a lamppost, or 3 lines drawn with a piece of brick on a compound wall. If nothing, it would be two hawai chappals that acts as wickets. A twig could be a stand-in for a second bat, and everyone played with a shared spirit. The road in front of anyone's house was open to all—a place where games, conversations, and sometimes even family functions spilled over. The essence of gully cricket was its simplicity and collectiveness. No one really owned anything individually. If one kid had a bat, it became everyone’s bat. The game was not defined by boundaries of ownership or the idea of personal space. Rather, it thrived on the joy of shared resources and ex
Read more