Consumer research company, Arbitron, has recruited volunteers to wear a special pager 24/7, which allows them to collect data such as how much a person has been exposed to certain technologies or specific programs throughout the day. This not only helps collecting and organizing data much easier, but also allows companies to make better business decisions. This, of course, can be a great thing, because as consumers, we want marketing and advertising to be done well. We like to be pursued. .
By making smarter marketing and advertising decisions, it will not only strengthen the consumer-business relationship, but also allow both sides to reap the benefits (e.g. satisfaction of a product or program, and higher or more consistent sales). For example, a network may pay Nielsen to find out when college students are most likely to tune in to the TV, and what they're most interested in, and then the company can use that information to make a certain show air at a certain date/time.
Nielsen, once a rival but now good partners with Arbitron, is working on discovering alternative ways of data measurement "from voice-recognition to face-recognition. This brings up the question of ethics, and whether participants of P.P.M. really know what they are volunteering for. Also, this is a big privacy issue for people who are publicaly surrounded by someone wearing a special pager; their personal data and information may overlap with the wearer's data.
My average day consists of writing papers, blogging about fashion and food, reading the news, sending emails, connecting with good friends and new ones, and uploading pictures. All of these activities take either on my laptop, phone, or tablet. My typical agenda revolves almost entirely around media. Whenever there is a heavy storm and the power goes out in my Long Island home, or I run out of batteries on my iPhone and I don't have a mobile charger, I feel absolutely disconnected from the world and I feel like I can get nothing done.
