Samantha Villavicencio
According to the Social Networks Creative at Orcí Advertising, Samantha Villavicencio, the Facebook scandal involving the manipulation of some 50 million users’ data by Cambridge Analytica forces brands and agencies to take greater responsibility in handling consumer information.“We must be vigilant and prepared, educating our clients and working together with Facebook representatives to establish transparent and effective communications. The platform continues to be a powerful and effective way to get our message across. The important thing is to use it ethically” the specialist warned. To guarantee transparency in advertising, Villavicencio said, it’s important to establish a data strategy agreement that ensures that data will always be obtained and processed correctly. This should be enacted by “carefully monitoring how data buyers plan to use that data to make sure they follow the established procedures, by conducting research on how our ads and campaigns have been using our audiences’ personal information, and by making an analysis to discover which tactics are not working, which could pose risks, and whether there is a violation of any terms of the agreement.” She forecast that the scandal will lead users to be more cautious: “I recommend working together with Facebook to force changes that will maintain the effectiveness of our investments, since bad practices harm consumers’ trust and thus affect our work.”