Big Data Impacts the Web with Personalization of Content
Big data is making head ways in a wide range of industries today. It is making companies more competitive and has added analytical to proper industries forward. The World Wide Web (WWW), in particular, is an area that big data is making a lot of strides in as of late.
What big data allows is for personalization of websites. These websites are geared toward each user individually. There is a lot of data available on the Web that tracks users and their behavior. Advertisement companies, for instance, use this information for product placement ads.
Adaptive Web
According to The Age, big data is already making its presence felt across the world in Australia, through what is being referred to as the “adaptive Web.” The process involves data being entered by users into such engines, cookies, and fingerprinting software identifying user visits to particular Web pages. Adaptive Web creates creates personalized Web pages based on the information obtained from big data on each user Web browsing.
The websites, which use adaptive Web technology, aren’t instantly created but changed from existing content available on their pages. They are personalized, but not entirely customized for each user. To put it in perspective, already-existing websites can be personalized based on information obtained with big data analytics, but not altered too much yet. However, in the future websites may spontaneously be created based on big data. This would really change the way we consume information online and browse the Web as a whole.
According to the report from The Age, “Now, more Australian retailers are using data to personalize their sites, and the concept is spilling into other sectors. Ultimately, it may lead to websites that are entirely customized.
A good way to describe adaptive Web is a Web that changes and adapts automatically for each individual browsing. However, there are still ways to go before adaptive content becomes embraced by many industries such as banking. Content management systems and efficient big data management is needed for websites to change in real time. Big data is allowing companies to focus on smaller customer segments through adaptive Web and even individuals — rather than customers in large masses.
The process isn’t much different than what Google does with search when it adapts results to each user based on direct targeting and data feedback. However, this allows companies per se to conduct their own personalization of data through their Web pages. That’s what makes it appeal to entrepreneurs and businesses looking for particular types of consumers.
Privacy Concerns
With big data making such important headways among Web search, it is worth noting that concerns are arising related to privacy. In Europe, a bill has been proposed for the EU that would safeguard private data exchanged online. It is called the right to be forgotten initiative.
According to Stanfordlawreview.org, “The right to be forgotten could make Facebook and Google, for example, liable for up to two percent of their global income if they fail to remove photos that people post about themselves and later regret, even if the photos have been widely distributed already.”
This means that the law would actually hamper big data in the sense that certain data would be erased or unavailable for companies to examine while other data would be available. However, according to Gigaom , the data will be expunged from history only if the subjects requests it.
This can impact big data analytical for companies because it will leave some data online incomplete and the statistical data inconclusive. The bill would also force U.S websites to abide by these rules that target European users.
As you can see, big data is playing a larger role in the Web than ever before. It is taking over search and individualized Web content. Everything we do online can be analyzed and collected if we are not hiding our identity, accepting cookies, and have our IP addresses visible. Is adaptive Web a good thing? We will wait and see if it actually produces the results companies hope for in the coming years.
