by Douglas Imaralu

When rumours of a monetization scheme for one of the world’s top social networks spread in Q4 2014, a significant number of people arguably considered closing their accounts. But at the thought of losing memories and time invested in building networks, it quickly evaporated.

Although security and privacy continue to occupy pole position in the digital assets discourse, the question of who really owns digital properties is as urgent.

Before the Facebook and Google era, digital marketing arguably had fewer implications and more benefits to consumers. Consumers could window shop, choose, and discard whatever they liked or didn’t like, whenever and wherever they wanted, without codes mining data or counting down the number of free access before a pay wall comes up.

However, tables have turned. Companies are increasingly using technology to influence market trends, predict consumer behaviour, and, arguably, restrict access and transfer to certain goods and services. But, perhaps the most stealthily is T and Cs.

In digital marketing, Terms and Conditions matter. So while some may question the rationale of the social network giant to monetize their platform, they forget consent given to certain T and Cs whilst registering.

Following unprecedented advancement and the sophistication of tech-based businesses in the past decade, it is safe to say that regulation of ownership and privacy rights concerning digital assets of consumers need thorough restructuring, and to an extent, only businesses that cosy up to such rights will gain competitive advantage in the years to come.

“There is no doubt that emerging digital technologies are transforming consumer cultures. It is well documented that they have changed the way we shop for material goods,” a research material from a MOOC on digital marketing trends reads.

“They are prompting even more profound changes in consumer culture and market relations as we witness the emergence of a range of intangible digital goods which cannot be used in material reality, but are nonetheless real and can be embodied by technological devices such as laptop computers, mobile phones and videogame consoles in order to be accessed and consumed.”

Put simply, as the world transits to a knowledge economy, issues of ownership of digital assets and privacy will be under more scrutiny, even as digital marketing transcends marketing of tangible products to the peddling of digital products and services accessible via apps, video game consoles, and social networks among others.

Presently, some argue that companies like Facebook, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Uber, Instagram, SnapChat etc. benefit more, and consumers are somewhat ensnared to ever changing terms and conditions regulating digital assets, which range from eBooks to social media accounts, songs on iTunes, movies on Netflix or games on XBOX, etc.

Further, the implication of issues of permanence of digital assets, rights of transferring, accessibility, privacy, etc. has various degrees on consumer across the world. Although privacy, which is arguably the most important, has spurred so much controversy in recent times, other issues abound.

For instance, some sites/apps/gaming platforms are “unavailable/inaccessible” depending on location, even with a paid account while some digital properties are not transferable – either owing to differences in device, software, hardware or time.

So as the digital economy expands, one can safely say that web-based businesses take cognizance of privacy, access, right to transfer, and include option to delete history to digital assets – from avatars on gaming platforms, to pictures on Facebook, Flickr or Instagram, emails on Google or Yahoo, movies or songs on iTunes – will attract more consumers.

And although some companies are already including options to make digital assets tangible; perhaps it is high time all companies do.

Overall, no consumer wants to wake up to the fact that he/she has to pay to access hundreds of memories on a social media account or lose songs/movies he/she wants to hand down as heirloom. So the quicker companies and policy makers react to this trend, the better for consumers.

 

– [Photo credit: http://ashtongrace.co.uk/]