Page 133 - Reclaim YOUR DIGITAL GOLD (without audio)

Monetizing Your Data

Unless you’re an outlier, everyone has gigabytes of digital
data stored on their devices or in the cloud.

But how much does your data actually cost? Consider
the value of some personal information to the average
citizen. Let’s break it down further using US statistical
data.

YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION’S
ADVERTISING VALUE

Advertisers are willing to pay a premium price for the
privilege of capturing your attention. Facebook, Google,
and other digital ad brokers, for example, use your
information to target your ads. They track your habits
and build a consumer profile of you (your demographics,
preferences, lifestyle, stage of life, and various other
attributes).

Because Facebook knows so much about its users, it
can profit from that information. The average American
spends about 40 minutes per day on the site. Facebook
uses statistical algorithms on a regular basis to match
consumers with products that advertisers hope to
promote to them.

In 2017, the average cost of an online Facebook ad was
$1.72 per click, a premium price due to Facebook’s ability
to analyze and deconstruct massive amounts of data.
Google, the other digital domain powerhouse, cannot
compete with Facebook in this area, but compensates
by controlling 80% of the US search advertising market
through Google AdWords.

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