4 April 2021
Deliveroo is not funny, Google ups privacy, Facebook enables algorithm ‘opt-out’ and Spotify personalises. Plus, climate change just needs product labels.
Headlines.
In the long standing tradition of April Fools Day (“Poisson d’Avril”) in France, Deliveroo sent users fake confirmation orders for 450€ worth of Pizza - recipients did not find it funny and complained on social media.
The ability of Apps on Google’s Play Store to QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES and therefore see all other Apps installed on a phone will no longer be possible from May 5th for all (File managers, browsers, antivirus and financial Apps are exempt from this block).
Personalising your experience is the goal at Facebook, who are introducing a ‘turn off’ feature for algorithms that impact your NewsFeed, and Spotify, are rolling out new personalised playlists with songs you like, and songs you might like.
Finally a world-changing idea, is the trick to climate change simply carbon footprint product labels?
Sources:
BBC News: Deliveroo April Fools’ joke backfires in France
The Verge: Google is limiting which apps can see everything else you have installed
Sky News: Facebook to let users turn off algorithm powering News Feed
Spotify Newsroom: Introducing New Spotify Mixes: Personalized Playlists Featuring Your Favorite Artists, Genres, and Decades
Fast Company: Here’s one way we can get people to choose more climate-friendly foods
Perspective.
In what Deliveroo world was it ever deemed a good idea to generate fake order confirmations and send them to customers as a joke? Consumers in France panicked, called banks to try and stop the payment and complained on social media. It took 23 hours (far too long) for Deliveroo to apologise publicly on Twitter (they may have apologised earlier directly). Now, I am no Privacy expert, but under local data legislation (GDPR), Deliveroo should not access consumer data for this purpose (given there is no “legitimate interest or consent of data use” here). Deliveroo even personalised the message. Personalisation is a way to increase consumer trust and relevancy, and this move above all would have indicated the message was real, and caused alarm. Not cool Deliveroo, and I hope someone up high is reviewing pourquoi cela n'a pas été arrêté, au début.
Similarly, I was quite surprised to learn that only now is Google revoking the right for all Apps as standard to see what other Apps a user has installed on Android 11, saying this right reveals personal and sensitive data. Your Apps tell companies so much about your interests, product purchases and life stage - this is marketing and targeting gold. Is Google also revoking the right for them to see what Apps you have installed? Not clear. Still, at least a baby step in the right direction.
Facebook have responded to criticism about spreading fake news/disinformation by providing users with the ability to turn off a News Feed fed by algorithm… an ability which is then hidden from view after 7 days. Huh? Hidden control doesn’t really say transparency for me.
After this week’s criticism of Deliveroo, Google and Facebook, seeing personalisation used well at Spotify is a breath of fresh air. In the words of Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s Chief R&D Officer: “There isn’t just one Spotify experience. There are actually more like 345 million different Spotify experiences - one for each listener.” Yay! I cannot wait to see MY new playlist(s), which build more clearly on Daily Mix.
Finally, a great article from Fast Company on how a study putting carbon labels on food (whether asked for or not) influenced a more ‘buy local’ behaviour in consumers. I ask, why stop at food? Let’s put these labels on all consumables, and give shoppers the tools they need to make the right choices. Just don’t charge more for it.