It all began with a pair of shoes.. I didn’t even like. One misplaced click sent me down the ugly shoe rabbit hole. Over the weeks that followed, the shoes popped up everywhere online. From my Facebook feed to the articles I was reading, there were the shoes…following me. Sound familiar?
Most realize that we are being tracked online. There are companies tracking our browsing habits and selling that information to advertisers for billions. The advertisers then use that data to target their ads, saving them billions.
What is not as intuitive is how we became the most valuable product being bought and sold online and how much money is at stake.
In order to see how we got here, we must go back to a simpler pre-internet time, back to the 80’s. In 1985, there was a simple straightforward deal between media and consumers. You exchanged your attention for content in the network tv model. This is what that model looked like.
Network TV model
Fast forward to the digital age where we still exchange our attention for content. Most of the things we enjoy for “free” online are paid for via the advertising we see alongside it. What isn’t so obvious is, as we are navigating online, data tracking and collection companies are gathering our data and selling it. This creates enormous value for themselves, at our expense, and often, without our informed consent. The addition of data to the scales tips them like this. Our attention plus our data is NOW worth more than the value of the content we get for “free”.
Our attention plus our data is worth more than the value of the content we get for free.
Enter ad blocking.
Ad blockers are more accurately called content blockers. In addition to blocking ads, they block data companies from tracking your behavior and selling it. Given the enormous dollars at stake it should come as no surprise that the largest ad blockers are now being paid hundreds of millions of dollars by companies like Google, Facebook, Taboola and others to allow their ads to get through. These companies are run by smart people. They wouldn’t be paying millions unless they were getting far more value in return.
So who is getting all that money?
The ad blockers are keeping it….jerks.
Enter Ourdata.
At Ourdata, we believe the consumer should have a choice. Block ads and tracking for real or allow ads and tracking and get paid. It is as simple as that. We think the balance should look like this.
Ourdata aims to rebalance the scales
Ourdata formed as a public benefit corporation which means we have a legal obligation to society. We pledge to payout 90% of profits to our community. In addition, we partnered with various charities to raise money via our referral system.
Ourdata pays based on how many shares you have. You earn shares two ways. First, you get shares for signing up, the sooner you join the more shares you get. Second, you earn additional shares for referring people. The larger our community the more value we create so we thought it was only fair to reward the people that help us grow. So, once you join, do your friends a favor, share your referral code so they can start earning too.
Learn more and download at Ourdata.us