• by Ross Fadner , September 18, 2008

What does data portability mean to marketers? It’s “a way of technologically breaking away from the constraints of the cookie,” says Ted Shergalis, co-founder and chief strategy officer of x+1, to know far more about the consumer. Indeed, rich data collection is great for marketers, says David Honig, co-founder of Media6 Degrees, but the “advantage to consumers is small.” Shergalis agreed, adding that the idea that social data collection creates more relevance for consumers “is a shallow claim.”

 

Unless users control the data, of course, which is one of the seminal issues of data portability. “Portability does put control in consumers hands,” stressed David Hinton, co-founder of Acerno. Even so, privacy issues remain a huge concern for companies that collect user information. Chris Marrow, CMO, Aggregate Knowledge thinks it’s a timing issue. A few years ago, he said, cookie-based targeting received “a tremendous black eye” from regulators and privacy watchdogs, but is now widely accepted. He adds that social data collection will one day be more widely accepted.