Question

Too often, statistics are used to ‘prove’ some point or to persuade an audience to some particular point of view, without really being accurate, complete, or honest. This issue has been the subject of numerous texts. You may be interested in reading such titles as: Damned Lies and Statistics, or How to Lie with Statistics.

1. Research one example where data analysis might have been misused or misapplied. Read about the example thoroughly so that you understand how analytics was used, and why it was problematic.  Explain why use of analytics contributed to the problem.  Discuss the consequences of the matter. Did the company/organization involved suffer any adverse consequences? If so, were the related to public opinion/trust, were they financial, were they punitive, etc.?

Answer 1

Pinterest is a huge favorite with brides looking for wedding planning ideas and inspiration. Many brides use the site to visually curate everything including their wedding gowns, make-up, hairstyles, decor, cakes, table settings, bridesmaids dresses and invitations. And they often share these image boards with friends and family, too. While most social websites now collect some amount of data on their users to serve up relevant content and ads, Pinterest may have taken that to an awkward new level. The website accidentally emailed some users congratulating them on their upcoming weddings and offered a special on wedding invitations. Except, many of these women weren’t getting married, and some of them were actually single. Many of the unhappy recipients took to Twitter to share the erroneous email.

The email subject line was “Hundreds of wedding invitations (P.S. You might find the one)” and the email itself said: “You’re getting married! And because we love wedding planning — especially all the lovely stationery — we invite you to browse our best boards curated by graphic designers, photographers and fellow brides-to-be, all Pinners with a keen eye and marriage on the mind.” A company spokesman issued an apology citing bad data and that they were sorry they came off “like an overbearing mother who is always asking when you’ll find a nice boy or girl.”

Big data still has big issues. While big data is supercharging marketing campaigns and helping drive conversions, it’s important to win your customers’ trust and ensure the data is reliable and accurate, that the data analysis isn’t biased or missing the context, and that the tools and technology you’re using to do this are foolproof and glitch-free. Mistakes are inevitable, but it’s important that we learn from them and find ways to improve how we communicate with our customers.

Data collection is a two-way road, helping a company better monetize and serving personalized experiences to users. Don’t let poor data, unethical collection or lack of due diligence create a data memory the web will never erase.