New report both scary and optimistic on Internet media

A new report has mixed findings for those engaged in Internet media. According to the fifth annual KPMG survey, online users are "happy to share their personal data with organizations they trust and if they get something in return, but are increasingly concerned about privacy and losing control of that data."

Tudor Aw, technology head for KMPG Europe, said that brands had to be very explicit about what they were doing with a consumer’s data. “Consumers are waking up to the idea that their data has value.”

I'm happy to share some data -- my location to the Google Maps app on my iPhone, for example -- but I wouldn't describe myself as "happy" to share most personal data, and I'm adamantly opposed to sharing most of it.

But even more chilling for the future of online media is another of Aw's observations, a growing concern about privacy, "Every year that concern worsens. This year it has gone right up to the 90% level." I have two nieces in their early 20s who just announced they were giving up Facebook over privacy concerns. That should be scaring the heck out of social media platforms, and it certainly alarms those of us who see the Internet as a net plus for media.