Photo: @opkirilka via Twenty20
A survey from retail consultancy Luxury Institute finds 83 percent of U.S. consumers between the ages of 18 to 49 willing to license their social and digital platform data (i.e., Google, Facebook, Instagram) for rewards and benefits of value to them.
The findings appear to run counter to other studies that show great apprehension by consumers over the use of their social data. For instance, KPMG's “Corporate Data Responsibility: Bridging the Trust Chasm,” study released earlier this year found 86 percent of consumers saying data privacy is a growing concern and 64 percent saying companies are not doing enough to protect consumer data.
The contradiction between individuals' intentions to protect their privacy and how they actually behave in the online marketplace is often referred to as the “privacy paradox.”
In a column last year in The Conversation, university scholars led by Ivano Bongiovanni of The University of Queensland cited three explanations given for the privacy paradox:
- People finding it difficult to associate a specific value to their privacy and therefore, the value of protecting it;
- Not considering their personal information to be their own and thus perhaps not appreciating the need to secure it; and
- Completely lacking awareness of their right to privacy or privacy issues and believing their desired goals (such as a personalized experience) outweigh the potential risks (such as big tech companies using their data for profiling).
- Consumers Rate Macy's, Kohl's, and Nordstrom Top Three Most Data Trustworthy Large Multi-Brand Retailers – Luxury Institute/PRNewswire
- Privacy Concerns Rise As Businesses Report Increased Personal Data Collection – KPMG/PRNewswire
- The privacy paradox: we claim we care about our data, so why don’t our actions match? – The Conversation
- Four steps to gaining consumer trust in your tech – PwC