Leon van der Vliet

No ratings yet.

Although you might think that Star Trek’s voice control might be futuristic, it is actually more realistic than ever! After the smartphone, tablet and wearables, it is now time for a new kid on the block; the smart speaker. Tech companies are embracing this new trend whereby Amazon introduced its Echo in 2014, followed by Google’s Home in 2016. Recently, Apple announced to compete in the smart speaker battle by bringing its Homepod to the market by the end of December 2017 (Kelly, 2017). However, as the smart speakers are not even adopted by the masses yet, it is already a hot topic in terms of privacy control.

For now, most smart speakers have been promoted for home usage, but smart speakers could be utilized for much more. For instance, Alibaba has recently formed a joint venture with Marriott International to install the staggering amount of 100.000 smart speakers in their hotels. Hotel guest will be able to change the lights, order taxis and even order room service (Jing, 2017).

However, if smart speakers will be installed in a lot of places such as your home and hotel rooms, will the tech giants be monitoring everything you say? According to them the answer is simply ‘no’. Smart speakers are set up in a way that they only actively listen to your voice when triggered by pre-set words like “Hey Alexa” or “Hey computer” (Carroll, 2015). However, this implies that they are always passively listening to your voice (Tahiri, 2017). Although the tech companies try to secure their data as much as possible, what happens if hackers are able to surpass the encryption of said devices? Will hackers be able to listen to everything you say, even in your own home? Are tech companies really only listening when their devices are triggered by the pre-set words? It won’t be the first time that tech companies have lied about privacy related matters. Take the recent news of Uber’s ability to record your smartphone’s screen as example (Sulleyman, 2017).

Eventually I believe it is rather likely that smart speakers will be adapted by the masses. However, we should be aware of the implications we consent to when bringing the tech companies really into our homes. Therefore, it is advisable that before you buy a smart speaker, to make sure you know which possible privacy concessions you are automatically making.

References

Carroll, R. (2015, November 21). Goodbye privacy, hello ‘Alexa’: Amazon Echo, the home robot who hears it all. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from theguardian.com: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/21/amazon-echo-alexa-home-robot-privacy-cloud

Jing, M. (2017, October 5). How ‘smart’ speakers and facilities could change China’s hotel industry for good. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from scmp.com: http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2113966/how-smart-speakers-and-facilities-could-change-chinas-hotel

Kelly, H. (2017, June 9). Apple’s HomePod is coming. Here’s what you need to know about smart speakers. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from money.cnn.com: http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/08/technology/gadgets/apple-homepod-smart-speaker-faq/index.html

Sulleyman, A. (2017, October 6). Uber app can secretly record everything on your iPhone’s screen, researchers find. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from independent.co.uk: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/uber-app-iphone-permissions-privacy-apple-security-greyball-london-ban-a7986336.html

Tahiri, H. (2017, June 27). Are smart speakers putting your privacy at risk? Retrieved October 8, 2017, from smartly.ai: https://smartly.ai/blog/smart-speakers-and-privacy/

No ratings yet.

Facebook is a platform with a huge fan base, yet it is also totally despised by some. Although the opinions differ, especially amongst generations, fact is that Facebook is currently by far the most popular social media platform. Presently, Facebook has 2,006 billion active monthly users, followed up by WhatsApp with 1,3 billion active monthly users. The next social media platform on the list is Instagram with ‘only’ 700 million active users (Richter, 2017). As one could see, Facebook is the front-runner in this race and its competitors are not even close.

chartoftheday_5194_active_users_of_social_networks_and_messaging_services_n

But what if this run will not end as it is expected? What if the race is won by someone else? Especially amongst teenagers, Facebook is losing its ‘cool’ status whereby it is estimated that around a million teenagers per year are permanently leaving Facebook for other social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram (Lang, 2015). But what could be the reason for this loss of interest in this social media giant? The most probable cause is the adoption of Facebook by Babyboomers and Generation X; it is not popular to be on a social media platform together with your parents, or even grandparents (Kiss, 2013). One of the authors of Global Social Media Impact Study embraces this reasoning and states that receiving a friend request of one of your parents is the biggest incentive to leave the platform (Miller, 2013).

But is this all true? From my own experience, I can somewhat relate to the findings of the researches. I noticed I am also slowly moving towards other social media platforms, especially because of the posts on my Facebook wall by middle aged women. Don’t get me wrong, but I do not have to know how your day went with your grandchildren or have to see a huge congratulation picture with cats and dogs on my wall.

However, if the most important user base is slowly bailing on Facebook, could one say that this threatens Facebook’s future? Advertisers are mainly focusing on the generation that is leaving Facebook. For that reason, revenue-wise Facebook should be worried (Lapowsky, 2014). On the other hand, Facebook Inc. has acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, both platforms which are heavily used by the teenagers that are currently leaving Facebook. Therefore, one could say that Facebook is cannibalizing its own platform, but one should not speak of a ‘user outflow’.

Personally, I expect that Facebook will get it rather tough and will not be able to regain its ‘cool’ status amongst teenagers. Other social media platforms will achieve more engagement with these teenagers and Facebook will eventually be left with its heavy core users. However, this is still speculation and it remains unclear how Facebook will develop itself.

Sources:

Kiss, J. (2013, December 27). Teenagers migrate from Facebook as parents send them friend requests. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from theguardian.com: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/27/facebook-dead-and-buried-to-teens-research-finds

Lang, N. (2015, February 21). Why teens are leaving Facebook: It’s ‘meaningless’. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from washingtonpost.com: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/02/21/why-teens-are-leaving-facebook-its-meaningless/?utm_term=.34edbf8cefac

Lapowsky, I. (2014, March 3). Why Teens Are the Most Elusive and Valuable Customers in Tech. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from inc.com: https://www.inc.com/issie-lapowsky/inside-massive-tech-land-grab-teenagers.html

Miller, D. (2013, December 20). Facebook’s so uncool, but it’s morphing into a different beast. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from theconversation.com: http://theconversation.com/facebooks-so-uncool-but-its-morphing-into-a-different-beast-21548

Richter, F. (2017, July 27). Facebook Inc. Dominates the Social Media Landscape. Retrieved October 8, 2017, from statista.com: https://www.statista.com/chart/5194/active-users-of-social-networks-and-messaging-services/

Big Brother is listening to you

16

Please rate this