The Four

Google controls a massive amount of behavioral data. However,
the individual identities of users have to be anonymized and, to the
best of our knowledge, grouped. People are not comfortable with their
name and picture next to a list of all the things they have typed into
the Google query box. And for good reasons.
Take a moment to imagine your picture and your name above
everything you have typed into that Google search box. You’ve no
doubt typed in some crazy shit that you would rather other people not
know. So, Google has to aggregate this data, and can only say that
people of this age or people of this cohort, on average, type in these
sorts of things into their Google search box. Google still has a massive
amount of data it can connect, if not to specific identities, to specific
groups. And if you don’t think they can’t find you if they need to,
remember: Google also used to claim it erased all of its records on a
regular basis. How did that work out?
Facebook can connect specific activities to a lot of specific
identities. Facebook has 1 billion daily active users. People live their
lives out loud on Facebook, documenting their actions, desires,
friends, connections, fears, and purchase intentions. As a result,
Facebook is tracking more specific identities than Google, a huge
advantage when selling the ability to reach a specific audience.
If I own a hotel in Hong Kong that caters to families, I can go to
Facebook and ask for ads targeted to families of a certain income level
that travel to Hong Kong at least twice a year. Facebook can identify
and serve up the right consumers at a scale previously unimaginable
because it can connect data to identity, and we’re not as creeped out,
as we made this information publicly available ourselves.
Amazon has 350 million credit cards and shopper profiles on file.
More than any company on earth, it knows what you like. It’s able to
connect identity, shopping patterns, and behaviors. Not to be outdone,
Apple has a billion credit cards on file and knows the media you most
enjoy and, if Apple Pay works, even more than that. Apple too is able
to attach purchase data to identity. Owning such a proprietary data set
is the Chilean Gold Mines or the Saudi Oil Reserves of the information
age.
Just as important, these firms have the skills to leverage software
and AI to uncover patterns and improve their offerings. Amazon does