Your truth is out there

I am always fascinated about how marketing techniques are deployed to increase sells. Advertising campaigns, gifts, offers, trend creation and so forth. But the most spectacular thing (and dangerous in my own point of view) is direct marketing.

Imagine that someone comes to your place and asks you about your gender, your studies, your age, your relationship status, your way of life, where you spend your free time, where do you live or where you work, what do you read or listen for, or simply, who your friends are. And imagine also that this "someone" puts this information in a large database with a register named "Mr. X" profile (where X is, obviously, you). And then, they run a lot of analytics tools. Uh, terrifying, isn't it?

And what happens next? You receive different advertisements in your email or your mailbox with products or services that are directly related to your profile and your needs; and you think "ah, yes, I offered my information to this someone". And this "someone" calls you from time to time to make a direct contact (obviously, she or he has your cell phone number too). And you begin to be really upset because you offered your information but you don't really wanted to buy something. And when you try to cut your relation with Mr. or Miss Someone, big trouble and hard job.

You will probably think "hey, you shouldn't offer your personal information to Mr. or Miss Someone man; you are nuts". Yes, it's true, you should not do this, but, actually, most of us we did! How? When? Why? and to Who? Well, you can identify Mr. or Miss Someone with his or her real names: Facebook, MySpace, Bebo... And, now, think by yourselves and read again the "Terms of Service" document that you accepted when you signed in for the very first time.