The Internet of You

The Internet of Things is really the Internet of You

After big data, the Internet of Things is likely the next big thing; if you believe the analysts, big data will even look small in comparison. What is the Internet of Things or IoT for shorthand? IoT refers to all kinds of devices with all kinds of sensors — refrigerators, microwaves, washing machines, basketballs, thermostats, shoes, cars — almost everything will come equipped with sensors. The smart Nest thermostat is an example of IoT. As a result of the sensors, these devices will generate data like never before — every time they record say the temperature, it generates a digital record, so does every every action they take (say turning down the thermostat setting at 10am). Analyzing and making sense of this data is fueling the potential of IoT — it promises to be the next transformational technology wave, and with good reason.

However, the term Internet of Things feels like a misnomer. After all, people ultimately own these internet-connected “things” spewing data, so the insights that their data generate will tell us something about the people behind those things. It will generate a more complete digital picture of our lives — its both a scary (privacy) and exhilarating (new possibilities like never before). I’ll focus on the latter.

Consider a scenario where your fridge comes equipped with sensors that can predict how long before your milk runs out. This fridge can then automatically add milk to your Amazon Fresh or Safeway Home Grocery Delivery order, and the milk will magically appear at your door step on the day the milk runs out. You’ve probably heard this story before.

Now consider the following scenario. If one combines your milk ordering patterns with other data about you — your purchases of electronics and other goods at Amazon, demographic profile from Facebook, socio-economic profile from Mint, driving habits from your car, Waze, or Automatic, and so on, one can predict how much more a family that consumes a gallon of milk a week is likely to spend on Lifestyle products than a family that consumes a gallon of milk every 2 weeks.

Think about that for a second. We’re talking about living in a digital world where every day actions in our home and daily routines combined with other activities can become even more powerful predictors of what we do. This will indeed be a goldmine for marketeers and brands, and will drive further disruption. It’s no wonder that Google bought Nest — by helping automate your home, Google can build a digital profile about you that goes beyond your search history and unlike any seen today.

In fact, as enterprises understand the power of controlling first-party data about you, you’ll see more disruption — software firms like Google providing products like thermostats, retailers like Safeway providing their own refrigerators, and so on — each one collecting data about you so they can build more advanced data models about you. In this light, it’s not improbable to think of purchasing a Google fridge or an Apple personal robot, or an Amazon Basketball — all equipped with sensors. Just as the lines between Grocery and drug chains blurred, so will the lines between various appliance manufacturers, hardware, and software companies.

Put in another way, the Internet of Things will really be about learning more about You. The Internet of Thinks will be huge, not because it is the Internet of a gazillion things, but rather because it generates a higher resolution digital picture — Yours.

Get ready for the Internet of You.

(this post originally appeared on http://abhirele.wordpress.com)