Data is now considered as the key contribution for pouring growth that allows many companies to distinguish themselves and maintain a competitive superiority. As we all know that the major portion of the revenue of many famous companies come from advertisement business such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter so these companies collect a large number of data and also sell into marketers.
However, our personal data is not just valuable for companies, many social media platforms, and advertisers, people must also keep in mind that it is also much valuable for many wrongdoers as well as they use our data in many criminal activities. Now the question is why different parties strive to get a large amount of personal data of users? It is simple to understand that the party that has the highest knowledge, knows about the playing ground, and adjusts their strategies according to the information gathered; always takes the top position. It depends on the goal of companies, social platforms, and criminals that how they use our data in different ways.
As per the report of this year, dark websites are selling the hacked profiles of Facebook for about 65 Dollars and the verified account approximately for 610 Dollars, while the complete record of American voters for 100 Dollars. Similarly, your email id can cost up to 89 Dollars to brand marketers. The bank record can be sold for 4.12 Dollars per person. Sources say that data thieves mostly give priority to the records of health centers because they have more detailed info of people such as their financial details, personal finding info, and the IDs of people. Therefore, the complete records of the health center can be sold for 250 Dollars. Therefore the number of violations in the data of health care centers has increased a lot.
However, many social platforms consider users as the generator of information but not humans and the main reason for that is, they possess that platform. Many people have concerns about that type of thinking because they have the right to possess their personal information. They can also license their personal data and can merely share with the giant tech companies If they get a reasonable share from their huge profit of 322 Billion Dollars.
Read next: Your Social Media Data Might Be Shared Among a Lot More Third-Parties Than You Would Expect
However, our personal data is not just valuable for companies, many social media platforms, and advertisers, people must also keep in mind that it is also much valuable for many wrongdoers as well as they use our data in many criminal activities. Now the question is why different parties strive to get a large amount of personal data of users? It is simple to understand that the party that has the highest knowledge, knows about the playing ground, and adjusts their strategies according to the information gathered; always takes the top position. It depends on the goal of companies, social platforms, and criminals that how they use our data in different ways.
Why data is more important for Platforms, Companies, and Cybercriminals
- If we talk about platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, they boasts millions of monthly active users from all over the world so they collect a large number of data to support their advertisement business, according to a report; YouTube earned around 15 Billion Dollars income from advertisements in 2020. However, LinkedIn made about 3 billion Dollars by providing access to the data of more than seven hundred million users in the same year.
- For companies, that are planning to invest a huge amount into advertisements, the amount of data can give them a proper plan about where they can invest their money. They want to collect the data to know about the likings, trends, sexual orientations, connections, family subtleties of people so that they can target the right persons.
- Many cybercriminals do not merely collect or steal the data of users for their criminal activities such as coercing and identity stealing, but they also sell the data to the bidders.
Value of the data
The cost of data depends highly on demand and supply, obviously when the demand will high; prices will automatically reach the top level. According to a study, the value of males’ data is comparatively high than the data of females, for instance, the data of females can cost 0.14 Dollars while the data of males can cost 0.14 Dollars. YouGov and MacKeeper published a report in 2020 that the data of users between 18 to 24 years of age has more value than other age groups such as their data can cost up to 0.36 Dollars while the people who are more than 55 years of age have the data value of 0.05 Dollars. There are also some variations between the data of different regions and financial backgrounds.As per the report of this year, dark websites are selling the hacked profiles of Facebook for about 65 Dollars and the verified account approximately for 610 Dollars, while the complete record of American voters for 100 Dollars. Similarly, your email id can cost up to 89 Dollars to brand marketers. The bank record can be sold for 4.12 Dollars per person. Sources say that data thieves mostly give priority to the records of health centers because they have more detailed info of people such as their financial details, personal finding info, and the IDs of people. Therefore, the complete records of the health center can be sold for 250 Dollars. Therefore the number of violations in the data of health care centers has increased a lot.
How companies use the personalized data
Companies use the personalized data of users to increase their advertisement revenue. Most companies use the info of users in 2 ways- Companies use this info in the direct advertisement. We must keep in mind that if we are sharing our information with social media platforms relating to our, hobbies, likings, disliking, judgments, and even family backgrounds, it means that we are giving this information to marketers which they will use for personalized ads. Companies mostly use this information for sending the correct message to the right place which can save their time, effort, and cost.
- Companies also use the info of users for projecting analytics such as the latest trends of the market, marketplace inclination, and improve the memo of the product to assist notify innovative goods and services. Further, companies and organizations can gather a large number of data of people in the specific region to find the latest market opportunities that they could not find.
However, many social platforms consider users as the generator of information but not humans and the main reason for that is, they possess that platform. Many people have concerns about that type of thinking because they have the right to possess their personal information. They can also license their personal data and can merely share with the giant tech companies If they get a reasonable share from their huge profit of 322 Billion Dollars.
Read next: Your Social Media Data Might Be Shared Among a Lot More Third-Parties Than You Would Expect
