GOOGLE - Someone's watching you!

One could say that using Google today is something that belongs to our life like grocery shopping – but it is much easier and most of all we use it so much due the fact that is doesn’t cost us anything…. But is this really true? We may not have to pay cash indeed but we pay something that is actually much more valuable for us – our privacy. No matter what our interest is in, we spend a lot of our time searching on Google for pictures, articles, books, forums and anything informative about our topic of interest not realizing that every single one of our moves on the World Wide Web is happening under constant observation. 

In the “Cost of Free” Dr. Aleks Krotoski has investigated for the BBC series “The Virutal Revolution” how Google, Facebook, Amazon and Co. make billions of money by creating a very profitable advertising system. These organisations pay for the right to “secretly” or rather unnoticed tailor potential consumers who are using the Internet, targeting them according to their interest and activities on the net.  

People and their personal data therefore get more and more available on the Internet without being aware of it. Emails, Likes, Interests and Activities are all browsed which means that what we actually find so great about the internet – its ‘free’ service – is in reality everything else but free. 

 

In an article for the BBC today Jo Wade who is the Assistant Producer of the “Virtual Revolution” put it this way:

Every day in Britain millions of searches are carried out on Google for free. Every month we spend millions of hours on Facebook for free and read millions of articles from free newspapers.

But now look at it the other way round.

Every day Google gathers millions of search terms that help them refine their search system and give them a direct marketing bonanza that they keep for months.

Every week Facebook receives millions of highly personal status updates that are kept forever and are forming the basis of direct advertising revenue.

Every month free newspapers plant and track a cookie tracking device on your computer that tells them what your range of interests are and allows them to shape their adverts and in the future, even content around you.

So you’re not just being watched, you’re being traded. The currency has changed!!!!

So with this change in society we need to think about where this trend is heading and urgently need to ask ourselves how much of our personal life’s we are willing to share with the whole public in the future…..

 

 

 

Crisis Management

There is a time when every company or organisation may find itself in an uncomfortable situation facing a more or less dramatic crisis. With such an easy accessible tool like the internet it is getting more and more difficult to prepare in cases of a crisis. Anyone with a camera (mobile, camcorder, or digital camera) can make “undercover” films and post them on platforms like YouTube, Facebook and similar ones. Confidential or damaging material can therefore easily be distributed causing a great harm in a company’s reputation.

In such cases, crisis management is needed more than anything. New trust needs to be established among the public and the responsible parties need to be able to respond to the high pressure they will then be under. However a crisis is always an opportunity to show how well structured and prepared a company is in such situations. When videos of employees working at Domino’s Pizza were leaked on the internet showing disgusting actions they did while preparing the food, the company faced the problem immediately and dealt with it in an excellent way (Case study below).

Today companies, organisations and governments need to be prepared for a crisis any time. The need to have prepared strategies, already planned out before a crisis’ outbreak – and most importantly they need to be prepared any time as the internet never sleeps! That means they need to analyse potential risks and crisis situations and causes beforehand. Most importantly they should prepare and have and eye on their employees as these people are the greatest risk. They are the closest to confidential information and have access to all or almost all areas in a company. Furthermore great attention should be paid to the Internet and how to use it and several social media platforms in cases of a crisis. With the Internet the largest number of people can be reached and updates can be posted every hour or even every few minutes.
     
Here are my the Top 8 Crisis Management Tips:

1. Face the crisis!

2. Have clear roles on who is doing what in a crisis
    (who speaks to the media, who is responsible for communication on the internet)!

3. Identify the four W’s (who what when where) before facing the media!

4. Prepare and rehearse your crisis management plans!

5. Don’t hide – be accessible for the media and the public
    (on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TV etc.)!

6. Train your employees!

7. Have guidelines for the employees how to use social media
    (they should know how to make regular updates giving a positive image)!

8. Get third parties involved that have a positive influence and
    support on your image among the public!