There are lots of stories about those freaky moments we're convinced 'Social Networks' can hear what we're saying, there seems to be lots of anecdotal evidence but our good friend 'Zuck' says definitely not.

I don't know about you but today we seem to be constantly bombarded with intrusive ads from everywhere, my personal bug bear is the re-targeting ones, they really piss me off.....and to be honest its these that give oxygen to the fear we have that social networks are 'listening' to what we're saying, when in fact their just following us around the internet waiting to hijack us at every turn, and recent research has shown we spend most of our time, yes you guessed it on 'social media'.

Example; a week ago you were looking at 'nail fungus' treatment, you found something, bought it, had it delivered and started to use it, but the re-targeting ad tech guys don't know (or care) that you already made that purchase, they get paid on how many times their platform can show you how far the campaign reached, and all that in anticipation you cave in and buy the product or service, crazy stuff eh!

Some people are happy to accept that being able to utilise a social platform for 'free' is merely the price you pay for all those intrusive adverts, but the helpful infographic in the link below highlights what we really think about them. The team from signs.com recently surveyed more than 1,000 consumers to get their insights into their overall knowledge of ad personalization, and when they feel that such ads cross the privacy line.

Is it any wonder that people are turning to 'ad blocking' and ad skipping technology in order to dial down this intrusive, at times freaky use of our privacy, and the recent introduction of the GDPR in Europe whilst having some restraining impact has yet to really show its regulatory teeth. 

The reality is that in order for social networks to earn those ad dollars, they need to be able to collect, store' and provide access to your personal data to companies and brands who want to interrupt what we are all doing on social, so lets just agree, 'If its free, you're the product'

Don't forget this is from a guy who has been 'Mea Culpa' of buying and promoting millions of ££££$$$$$ of this intrusive advertising stuff in the past, I even managed to build the 5th largest e-mail marketing company in the UK and now believe there is a better alternative in the understanding of 'Social Media' for something more than just more 'advertising'.

If used within an internally aligned strategic framework for 'Social Media, supported and mentored with the right skill set training to truly empower organisations we might, just might, start to make inroads into the disaster of programmatic intrusive advertising that's already upon all of us.

Social isn't about transferring the 'advertise and promote' thinking its about being 'Social' first, not 'selling' first.