TMI on Twitter?

While my previous post was about websites like Google and Facebook bypassing cookie settings in Safari, and Internet Explorer this issue of privacy and potential marketing possibilities has me in a trance.

THEN,

I come across this article on MSNBC about Twitter selling users tweets dating back from January 2010 to companies to sell to marketers. After reading the article, which suggests going and deleting tweets that you believe carry "TMI" in the eyes of potential marketers my first thought was, "What have I tweeted?"

THEN,

I started thinking like a marketer,

In my 11,493 tweets since 2009 I have expressed a multitude of things that a potential marketer could improve, fix, and create. As a marketer, using the "TMI" of twitter users seems amazing.

So...

A marketer doing research to improve, we'll say, the condition of certain retail establishments (I'm using this example because I just left Target, where I tweeted about the ridiculous lines).  If these marketers gather enough tweets from consumers saying that these lines at Target are outrageous, they could possibly work to fix the situation.

OR...

I think back to every time I've expressed my LOVE for something or complete DISGUST for something. This is excellent information to a marketer, and, as a future marketer...I completely support it.

There are no doubt a large number of people who are going to have distaste for their twitter feeds being sold to random strangers to use to further their business ventures; but as a future marketer and business person I would be crazy to fight this. It's not as if I'll be watching a news story and see "Ashley Hurd tweets about her hate for the cobblestone quad on the University of Missouri - St Louis' campus" 

Seriously, no one cares THAT much what I think. (if only....)

"Think about all those seemingly innocuous things you write that a marketing company could build a profile upon: tweets about your alma mater, organizations you support, donations you've made, retweets from all over, people you know, activities you like, and most importantly -- where you spend your disposable income." --Athima Chansanchai

Ask yourself, what is in your twitter past?

-Ashley-


(http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/tmi-twitter-marketers-searching-through-your-old-tweets-now-236475)