Data Mining and Microtargeting

Data mining and microtargeting.  Two words that sound very boring.  But trust me, they’re very interesting, particularly because they contain a lot of information about you.  The boring connotations of data mining and microtargeting are countered by their very literal implementation.  Gathering statistics about voters and then tailoring specific messages to specific voters based on that information is the very short description.

 

The two practices were perfected by “the architect” Karl  Rove in the 2004 presidential election.  Yes, this guy…

 

 

Anyway, data mining and microtargeting are now heavily in play to determine who will vote for whom on election day 2008 and what can be done in the meantime to persuade voters one way or the other.  Data miners literally sift through tremendous amounts of information that has been stored in databases.  They search for anything useful in determining who’s blue and who’s red come November 4.  Once decided, these databases are used to microtarget, or cater specific messages to specific groups of people.  Direct mail, direct e-mail, cold calls, internet ads, and television ads are some of the ways to tailor messages to certain demographic groups. 

 

It should come as no shock that your personal information is up for grabs.  The practice seems like a violation of privacy, but it’s completely legal.  Credit card companies, for example, have mastered the art of making money off of you beyond standard annual and late fees.  They sell your information, and political parties are buying.  Consider these questions:  Do you pay taxes?  Own a home?  Own a car?  Use a credit card?  Have kids?  Have a degree?  Take vacations?  Buy pay-per-view movies?  Buy music online? Own a fishing license?  Have an EZ-Pass?  Vote?  If you have ever done any of these things, somewhere there’s a record of it. 

 

Both parties are perpetually updating and adding to their databases of voters.  There’s too much at stake, and the information is too readily available not to.  Then they cross reference and analyze and re-analyze the data about you, the voter, and tailor their messages accordingly.  The red guys call their database Voter Vault, while the blue guys are using a company called Catalist to compile their database.  It’s a safe bet that you’re in both.  And each group hits you with very specific messages in a variety of ways. 

 

We can only hope that they use this information to listen to the voice of the voters too, a simple concept that seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the way.