To quickly catch you up…
- Apple is expected to include a new feature called “App Tracking Transparency” (ATT) in the next release of iOS 14.
- Google is perturbed, but apparently, they will get over it.
- FaceBook is not too excited, but dealing with it. Here is a link to their Business Help Center with steps an advertiser can take on their platform.
Wait – what exactly is this ATT feature?
Basically, Apple is now going to explicitly ask you, the consumer, if you will allow each application you use if you are okay with them tracking you. Yes – think; Insta, FB, SnapChat, TikTok, WalMart and DoorDash. And Apple wants to make it VERY clear what the Apps are doing and why they are tracking and how that will be used = sold … alas… “Transparency”!
What does all this really mean and what’s next?
First off – I personally care about this and think it is amazing that Apple iOS 14 is going to make every APP on your phone disclose that they are stalking, tracking, monitoring and creepy Big Data’ing you (new word – I just made it up). This is a rare, bold leadership move for consumer transparency, led by one of the largest data mines on the planet. I am only slightly sarcastic here, I do applaud this and appreciate it.
Secondly – This is how it should have started decades ago. There should be no shock, and we should just move forward. I will applaud Apple because it is the right thing to do now that they have made their trillion$… uh, I mean now that they discovered the danger and violation of tracking and selling your interests without your knowledge, and then using it against you.
So what impact does this have on you, your business, or your potential customers? 2 different trains of thought, which could lead to a really fun debate at the bar when we can get there safely (very soon!):
1 – Everything!
This is another milestone or timestamp in the history of the digital privacy age that started with the first whisper of “GDPR” (Global Data Protection Regulation, and if you happened to miss that implementation date was May 2018) and then came “Apple iOS14” (some random secret date this spring) and suddenly we were all invisible again and big brother is gone and no one is watching anymore, and we can no longer find our future customers (insert panic emoji). First party data will once again be Queen (think: email addresses, real customer contacts, direct sales and e-commerce, opt-ins) I know you’re thinking this logic is really ‘old school’ from just after Y2K, when AOL was still cool and Napster was a thing. You don’t have to take my word for it, just listen to Brian Matson & Mo Parikh get into it with this conversation here (45 minutes, well worth your time on this subject)
2 – Nothing?
Marketers are ahead of this, corporations will simply work around this and will always be able to find you, sell you and then help your business track and reach your customers.
In closing… the truth lies somewhere in between. Believe what you want, but do not live in fear. There are so many ways to keep rolling forward and reaching your audience legally, ethically, morally, EASILY. Start by re-invigorating your first party data strategy… yesterday!
And just as a friendly public service reminder, quoted a million times, but most recently plagiarized from Kate O’Flaherty from Forbes (check out her iOS 14 article here):
If we are not paying for the product, we are the product.
Kate O’Flaherty
