What do Millennials really think of the Permission.io plan to pay people for their data?

At this particularly odd point in history, people in a certain age group — millennials — face an atypical conundrum. It’s basically required, both socially and professionally, to have some kind of online presence, and yet we’re well aware of the privacy we’re sacrificing in order to maintain them. Based both on conducted surveys and practical experience, it’s clear that millennials (typically classified as those born from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s) are loathe to give up their social media accounts, yet they’re certainly not fans of their data being mined, of their profiles being used as fuel for advertisements in a way that benefits them not at all.

Perhaps this attitude could best be summed up by my friend C, a 25-year-old musician who maintains active Facebook and Instagram accounts. She considers interruption marketing techniques, like targeted ads on Facebook, to be “annoying and creepy.” “I hate them and want to turn them off!” said C in an interview (quoted in my previous post). “Is there a way to do this? Help!” C may hate the ads, but she’s also never deleted a social media account.

Young people want to be social online, yet they’re annoyed (and in certain cases, genuinely angry) at the way their data has been stolen. And this is where the Permission.io, formerly Algebraix, concept comes in. The Permission.io platform will operate on a pure “permission marketing” model, where users consume media advertising (specifically in entertainment, like movie trailers) and are then rewarded for it with a new cryptocurrency, the Permission token (ticker: ASK).

Users won’t have to give up any of their personal information — companies will know how many eyeballs are on their media, but users’ identities will remain unknown. “We’re creating this this ability for individuals to take back ownership of their data,” said founder Charlie Silver at the Texas Bitcoin Conference. “What does ownership mean? It means to ability to monetize [your data], to make money off of it.”

So what do millennials actually think of the Permission.io concept? Young people in a variety of professions from across the country (and a few in Europe and Australia) weighed in. They all, somewhat ironically, asked to please remain anonymous.

J, 30, banker: “I am open to this concept but I’m skeptical that the ‘reward’ would be worth the effort on an individual basis. That being said, I would be open to learning more about how this could work.”

M, 27, MFA candidate: “This is brilliant. If I had any money I would invest.”

I, 28, programmer: “I think that used in the right way that it’s a powerful idea. Earning crypto through consuming media and ads is not the most interesting component of it ‘tokenizing’ attention to me, but seems like a nice side benefit and I think the idea would help encourage adoption.”

A, 25, architect: “I think it could come down to the rates of crypto you’d earn compared to the amount of energy you’d consume. Granted, I would probably sign up for this kind of thing to see what it’s like without doing the calculations.”

T, 27, editor: “I would much rather a choice in sharing my data with advertisers and being rewarded for it than it being out of my hands! And I consume a lot of media anyway, so any chance to be rewarded for what I’m already spending my time doing seems a bonus.”

A, 29, social media strategist: “I could be rewarded for consuming ads, which I do all the time anyway, that would be great. Sign me up.”

P, 26, copywriter: “The whole thing sounds good to me. I don’t really see any losses here — I watch things like movie trailers all the time, so to make any kind of money from that would be really cool. It’s also cool to get paid for this kind of thing, as opposed to like, the money from ads I look at going to some anonymous CEO.”

M, 26, writer: “Getting compensated for consuming media is appealing. We’ve become so accustomed to sharing our data with very little convincing, so it’s hard to conceptualize what we’re losing when we hand it over — I can’t even imagine dealing with advertisers while remaining anonymous. It’s cool. And everyone loves free shit.”

B, 27, gallerist: “Being reimbursed for advert interactions seems more appropriate than just forcing advertisements on the masses without consent. The reality of capitalism is that all interactions are monetized or given value. We are already being bombarded with advertisements, online and IRL, that is a type of labor that we are not being compensated for.

I’m very interested in this in the abstract, but this does raise questions. Am I consuming media of my choice? Who is paying me and by what means? Is my media monitored through this system or am I submitting forms? Knowing my wellness is not a corporate priority, I wonder what other avenues for abuse this would add to the relationship. All this being said, I’d probably take the money.”

S, 26, reporter: “I think this would be similar to paid product tests, but easier. I’d be interested in getting rewarded for my thoughts. I am very interested in being rewarded just to watch ads and movie trailers and stuff.”

P, 32, creative director: “I like the idea of being more in control of the data I share and what advertising I choose to consume.”

E, 26, architecture student; N, 22, sales associate; R, 31, urban planner; S, 24, assistant to ambassador; L, 28, writer and editor; L, 26, assistant to CEO; A, 21, law student: “I would use this, sign me up.”