microtarget
microtarget – verbo
microtargeting – sostantivo
The manipulation of social media data to microtarget voters without their consent has significantly increased.
Has the rise of micro-targeting become a threat to democracy?
Il recente scandalo legato a Cambridge Analytica e all’uso spregiudicato della profilazione dei dati di milioni di utenti Facebook ha portato alla ribalta il termine microtargeting. Fare microtargeting significa creare messaggi estremamente personalizzati indirizzati a consumatori o elettori per convincerli ad acquistare determinati beni o a votare in un certo modo; questi messaggi si differenziano da altre forme di strategie commerciali e politiche in quanto basati su grandi quantità di informazioni dettagliate su interessi e preferenze personali. Se è vero che il microtargeting commerciale e politico è prassi standard da tempo, lo scandalo sta nella scarsa trasparenza dell’utilizzo dei dati degli utenti di social media, ignari di essere oggetto di profilazione, e di come tale utilizzo abbia potenzialmente influenzato il risultato elettorale in varie occasioni.
Origini del termine
Anche se microtargeting è assurto alle cronache di recente, il termine è in circolazione nel linguaggio politico statunitense sin dai primi anni 2000.
Traduzione di Loredana Riu
microtarget – verb
microtargeting – noun
The manipulation of social media data to microtarget voters without their consent has significantly increased.
Has the rise of micro-targeting become a threat to democracy?
The recent scandal about the use by a firm called Cambridge Analytica of data scraped from the profiles of millions of unwitting Facebook users has brought the term microtargeting into the limelight. To microtarget consumers, or in this case voters, means to craft messages targeted at very small groups or even individuals that aim to persuade them to buy certain things or to vote in a particular way. These messages differ from the usual forms of advertising or political messaging in that they are based on large amounts of detailed information about personal interests and preferences. While microtargeting has been standard practice in marketing and even political campaigning for some time, recent concern about its use revolves around the fact that social media users had no idea that their own data was being used to target them in ways that were not clear or transparent, and may even have influenced the outcomes of elections.
Origin
Although microtargeting has become the focus of intense media and parliamentary scrutiny only recently, it has actually been around for some time. Its widespread use in politics began in the US in the early 2000s.
