This week in data – February 2

Facebook wants to tell you a secret

GDPR is coming. Are you ready? Facebook is, and it’s about to spill its privacy secrets. Seven of them, to be exact – and it’s gonna start telling users about them too.

The takeaway:

“It’s important that you have choices when it comes to how your data is used. These are the principles that guide how we approach privacy at Facebook.”

Let’s give peace a chance with data

The past year wasn’t great. (The doomsday clock hit two minutes to midnight last week, btw.) But the Harvard Business Review thinks we’re about to solve some big social problems with data sharing. That should make things better (we hope).

The takeaway:

“By establishing data stewardship as a corporate function, recognised within corporations as a valued responsibility, and by creating the methods and tools needed for responsible data-sharing, the practice of data collaboratives can become regularized, predictable, and de-risked.”

Go for a jog, then reveal Area 51

Strava is a good app for tracking fitness. It’s also good for revealing government secrets, apparently. A bunch of user data made public revealed the location of secret military bases – including Area 51. (No aliens yet.)

The takeaway:

“In hindsight, maybe giving fitness trackers to your staff at a highly classified military base isn’t the best idea.”

You think?

We need to talk

Marketing has a big problem – it wants data but can’t get it. That’s what Harvard Business Review says. (The whole survey is packed with goodies.)

The takeaway:

“Improved customer experience and increased loyalty is the B2B data and analytics area with the biggest potential for success, cited by over 60 percent of HBR respondents.”

Brexit broke everything

Trade is great. Trading data is better. Just not when countries are changing all the rules, which is what’s happening right now. Britain’s in a bind and the rest of us might be next.

The takeaway:

“At the moment…many organisations are in a state of “digital uncertainty.” For example, 76 percent of the interviewees for our report stated that Brexit has significantly reduced their ability to plan for and invest in digital technology.”

That’s our wrap for this week. Thanks for reading – we hope you found it entertaining and informational. We’d love to hear your thoughts on these articles and anything else data related! Email us anytime at enquiries@datarepublic.com!

Until next week,

Team Data Republic

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