How Much Is Your Data Worth?

Since the dawn of the age of the Internet, big companies like Facebook and Google have made more money with our data with the information that we provide with them. Your online data includes your email address, your name, and your phone number. Additionally, web browsers collect information about your online activities. If you visit a website to buy something, search engines and advertising platforms learn about your online shopping activity. Even your cell phone has a unique identifier, called your Mobile Device ID that companies can use to advertise. Lets take a look at how much your data is worth online.

What Type of Data Is Collected From My Online Activity

The different categories of data collected during a visit to a website:

• Identification data (in particular name, first name)
• Contact data (including postal or electronic address)
• Connection data (in particular your computer's IP address)
• Financial data (average and historical payments)
• Commercial data (list of products and services from which you benefit)
• Location data
• Navigation data
• Content data
  

This data is used and analyzed to help companies see just how users behave and how they can change and tailor-make their strategies to get more sales. Whilst information relating to location and contact details may seem trivial, it can give companies an idea of where their customers are based. Also it tells them what cities or areas are the most popular.

How much is our data worth?

Our online data is worth a lot of money. The people who are in the position to make the most from this data are search engines, online marketing platforms (like Facebook), and data brokers. There are roughly 270 data brokers in the world and this is a huge industry. In 2012, data brokers made roughly $150 billion in revenue. According to some research, it is estimated that the average adults data from their online activities is worth about $35 per month, depending upon the type of online persona that they have.

Data Also Has Other Value To the Giants

Not only does your online data have monetary value to search engines and online marketing platforms, but it is also used to predict peoples online personas and cohort activities. Data can also be used to predict the online lives of many different groups of people. For example, Facebook likes can be used to predict a persons sexual orientation with a high degree of accuracy. Companies like Wal-Mart and Target use purchase data and browsing data to determine if an individual is pregnant or not and what products they are likely to buy.

Even if you have the highest level of privacy set on your social media profiles and Google account, companies can infer your private information, like where you live, based upon the online activity that you partake in, whether its reading an online newspaper or going over to Amazon t o find something to buy.

Why is data worth so much?

Data is essential to companies and they can grow and learn from this information. We can see that these very precise lists are becoming essential tools for companies, but also for public services or party policies. It is therefore a real market. According to figures from Transparency Market Research, it is financial companies, such as banks or insurance companies, that use this Big Data the most. They are followed by public services and health companies. It is in these three areas that more than 50% of the personal data market is invested. A market that, according to forecasts, will be worth nearly $50 billion in 2018, twice as much as today.

It is important to be aware of the types of data that can be used and if this affects us personally. Another good reason to be aware of the issue of personal data, we are producing more and more digital data, in particular with the increasing use of mobile applications on smartphones. Those to whom we entrust our journeys, the evolution of our weight and our health, the schedules and routes of our running sessions, our diet, our cultural tastes, our trips and more. Some can geolocate us even when they are not in use. If, for example, a company has your geolocation, the company will then know that you go very often and rather at such times to such stores, or such sports clubs. Therefore you can be offered personal advertising.

So it is safe to say that your data is worth a lot today and the worth of it is only likely to increase over the coming decade.

Monetize Your Online Data With Tapestri

Tapestri is an app that lets you make a little bit of money from your online data. All you have to do is download the app on iOS or Android. We also have an affiliate program that allows you to make money referring people who are also interested in how their online data is used. You dont have to take surveys or answer questions either.