Digital footprint evolution and social media segmentation that is basedon trust. #mdfp

After discover there are 4 phases of digital footprint evolution; on the path to understanding the value of your digital data and how Brands have to re-think segmentation in the digital social media age and focus on the “rainbow of trust”

Discovery. As the title suggests this is the phase where you discover Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube and you engage with full throttle in this new and exciting social media experiment.
Ø1  Fear. The first impact of digital footprints occurs on the personal realisation that all your digital data can be gathered and analysed. The fear phase represents the understanding that you must be careful about what you say about yourself and others. This is where the digital immigrants focus, spending a lot of time on the education of the digital natives.
Ø2  Spring clean. The second stage is when you wake up and understand that digital footprints are actually what you say, what you do, how you do it, where you do it and also critically important what your social crowd say about you and your information, data and content. This is the spring clean phase where you choose carefully who your family, friends and associates and what content you will post and link to. This could also be known as the un-link phase where you un-link “friends.”
Ø3 Selective. The third awaking is when you realise you are the product of a barter and that web services companies are actually trading your digital footprint data for services.  If you want free services you need to share more and more data and information. Further the web services companies continually want to cross your personal privacy barrier. This becomes the selective phase where you decide to focus on a few web services rather than leave data everywhere.
Ø4 Value.  The next phase of your digital footprint evolution is now less to do with you and your social crowd but is to do with the analysis of your data.  Few people reach this level of understanding as it is about who influences you and who you influence. This is where value can be realised for Brands. 

and the link between digital footprint and segmentation is…
Demographic segmentation leads to the placement of ads in your Facebook profile.  Depending on your age, sex and location you will have a certain propensity to selective ads. As you share more data and information, which builds your digital footprint, you also reveal preferences.  This helps further focus traditional advertising. 
However the analysis of how you behave online and who you watch and listen too starts a whole new process of discovery of who influences you and who you influence. This allows advertisers to create new value for brands as they shift from traditional placement to influence based on a rainbow of trust. Who do you trust and who trust you.  Think recommendation.

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The assumption is that the rainbow of trust is a continuum and shows that people have a different propensity of trust, from untrusting to very trusting, and who they trust: a brand, the government, people, things, friends or relationships. The key to gaining value from this segmentation is the analysis of digital footprint data as this allows a Brand to determine the chain of influence.  Who listens to the first message, who passes it on and who it affects?  The analysis determines influence based on value by trust and risk, and not by product or lifestyle.
Conceptually within a rainbow of trust based segmentation, there is no market aligned to age, lifestyle, income, demographics, early adopters or followers. It moves the ideas from the young who explore, and the old who stay with what they know, even if it is not the best. It will be (is now) possible to determine trust as we now have access to the very data needed to determine it.

more reading …. My Digital Footprint chapter