An interesting debate is taking shape after John Hegarty's harsh opinion on big data. The founder of BBH says big data is just the latest magic phrase that agencies put on their flags because they do not have good enough ideas. I think he is more or less right about a new trend in bullshitting, but I would like to prove why he is fundamentally wrong about big data.
Hegarty states "I'm not sure I want people to know who I am. I find that slightly Orwellian and I object to it. I don't want people to know what I drink in the morning and what I drink at night. I think there's a great problem here - throughout history we have fought for our freedom to be an individual, and you're taking it away from us.".
Well, big data is not new, it has just happened to come to fashion. Among others, telecom and financial companies have been using similar analytical methods for more than 10 years. For them, it is no big deal at all, just another tool that you can use to achieve business goals. (It might be funny for analysts on the client side to see a communication agency presenting a brand new scientific discipline that they have been dealing with for a decade.)
I think big data analysis can help understand people's behavior better, especially because I believe that peeping on what they do will always produce more credible results than asking them what they would do. Big data, if handled in a smart way, don't lie. And mass unpersonalized peeping is not unethical in my opinion, especially if results are turned to benefits for the masses.
So we reach the main question: how do you use the results? I think John Hegarty will not be able to stay away from "the matrix" either, as we are all already parts of it anyway. Our buying habits are numbers in our banks, our emotions are characters in our social media presence, our families are jpegs and movs on the net. So, in my opinion, what we should fight for is not our complete privacy, but our right to be left alone when we want.
More importantly, big data can not only be used to push unwanted brand messages on you. It can be a basis of developing more efficient, greener products, it can contribute to improving a company's social responsibility. Or it can even help fight drinking water shortage. And just a side comment, pushy or interrupting marketing doesn't need big data to insult the target group. So let's be happy about scientific improvements like big data analysis, sooner or later they will be used for our good. Or at least, let's concentrate on their ethical usage instead of rejecting disciplines as a whole, because we don't have a chance to stop technology anyway.
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