Dishonesty is easy. Dishonesty by omission is even easier.
Sometimes, dishonesty disguises itself as innovation. For example, Google is dishonest about the user data it collects. This crafty monetisation strategy is easy to justify: Free Search, Better AI, etc. But it’s still dishonest, and it leaves a bad taste.
Facebook is another example of deceptive innovation, trading your privacy for profit. They’ve built an amazing product, but at what cost?
Apple understands this principle. Since they don’t compete in the big-data arena, they can uniquely offer their products as more private. They advertise this, knowing that privacy influences buying decisions.
User awareness of these ethically-grey practices is growing. As a result, there now exists a “Free-Pause” – a hesitation while our audience asks what’s in it for you?
There’s no need to throw away big-data innovations, but we must commit to being more transparent with our customers about how we make money.
How can you to set your audience’s cynical minds at ease?