Walmart is Watching You

This column first appeared in Technorati.com

http://technorati.com/women/article/walmart-is-watching-you1/
Published: April 23, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Walmart has legions of fans and loyal customers. They also have serious critics, for example a quick Google search finds WalmartSucks.org, Walmart-Blows.com, and we have all heard conspiracy theories like blog posts, how Walmart is taking over, some say in insidious ways. While some may think this sounds like crazy conspiracy theories, two things happened that may fuel these theories a bit more.

On April 18th, 2011, Walmart quietly acquired Kosmix Corp, a company that analyzes, dissects, and searches online social data, for example Facebook. It then takes this data, and as they put it, "personalizes" web content.
Walmart also announced the formation of @WalmartLabs, a technology group tasked with advancing the integration of Walmart’s stores and web and mobile channels.
This sounds innocent enough, but let's see who is behind this initiative, and what the implications of this can really mean.

Mr. Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart’s vice chairman and head of global e-commerce, says, in part: “We are expanding our capabilities…"

“Our intent with @WalmartLabs is… …becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influencing how they think about shopping, both online and in retail stores.”

Yes. Walmart has set up a dedicated group to take your personal information, and use it to control you and influence the way you think and what you buy.

Can you say mind control?

If one views @WalmartLabs on Twitter, it looks noticeably empty, the avatar is the default Twitter avatar, and the only link provided from this Twitter account, goes to a bland understated page.

The impression you take away is they are trying to keep a very low profile, there is a master plan in place, and they are the puppet master pulling our strings.

Here is a quote from the link.

"We are at an inflection point in the development of ecommerce. The first generation of ecommerce was about bringing the store to the web. The next generation will be about building integrated experiences that leverage the store, the web, and mobile, with social identity being the glue that binds the experience. Walmart’s enormous global reach and incredible scale of operations — from the United States and Europe to growing markets like China and India — is unprecedented. @WalmartLabs, which combines Walmart’s scale with Kosmix’s social genome platform, is in a unique position to invent and build this future."

All this leaves you wondering... the next time you go to Walmart, what are you buying that you were influenced into buying without even knowing it?