i am that lit geek.
my 100th tweet [don't ask, i don't really care the number] was about Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods. i didn't even know. woo! personal landmark. i'm such a winterson dork.
anyway, the tweet was:
"strange question: have any of you read The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson?"
why is this fiction book important? everyone's twittering about ad:tech, and @alisamleo was talking about:
adtech: "are people getting freaked out" by individualized, behavioral targeting?
>> 39 minutes ago from web
adtech: well....depends on the age group. younger users don't care, its the internet economy...
>> 38 minutes ago from web
which got me thinking about how i'm still a little weirded out by it. i don't know if it's generational (am i not considered a young user anymore? i'm only 22) or just that i'm aware of what's going on; either way, i am still cautious about individualized targeting--even as i advocate it (see previous posts about choosing what our txt ads should be in order to keep relevance high).
The Stone Gods is similar in concept to other futuristic books. if you've read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, The Stone Gods is pretty much the direct inverse combined with Brave New World. among other themes, The Stone Gods addresses characters in a world that is hyper-marketed, hyper-targeted, and hyper-relevant. the computers know what you want before you do, right down to what you should wear (i'm sure Kenny Cole would love that -insert eyeroll here-). everything was so individualized that everyone began to be similar anyway, but it was what was desired regardless.
question posed: effective, yes. useful, perhaps.
but is this the kind of world you personally would want to live in?
no judgments here. i'm just honestly curious if you believe it would be beneficial, easier, and less stressful, or if it would "freak you out" about privacy etc.
4.15.2008
'the stone gods' and why it matters.
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2 comments:
I love Winterson - another reason to like your blog - and do not like hyper-targeting or too individualistic marketing.
Companies and brands are not my friends, I don't want to share my preferences or likes/dislikes with them or any of that.
yay! a fellow winterson fan. i'm such an addict, it's really not funny. i got it shipped over from England before it came out here. >.>
i know companies aren't my friends, but sometimes i want them to be. kind of like how i (fakely) want to be friends with some celebrities. it's a nice thought and probably would get interesting after a few drinks, but at the end of the day, we're going to have different values and huge differences of opinion.
so while i don't mind sharing some information, like likes/dislikes if i believe there's something in it for me (and i don't mean a free ugly tee shirt. make it pretty and you might have a deal.), i'm also way too skeptical of how that information could be used against me.
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