A digital footprint is different from identity

Another of our friends speaking at Mobile Web 2.0 was Tony Fish of AMF Ventures. Tony gave a very good explanation of the differences - and relevances - of identity and digital footprint.

We all are worried about our identity (and identity theft, spam etc). Many who don't understand mobile or mobile web 2.0 for that matter, feel that it is the identity which an operator should discover and perhaps monetize. And often this leads to discussions about what we know and don't know about prepaid mobile customers for example who don't tell us what their names are etc..

Identity can be used, but it really is almost unnecessary. It is the digital footprint which is a completely different story. So if my mobile phone is used to access the Playboy site regularly, or sports news or perhaps Sudoku puzzles or the daily horoscope, who cares if my name (identity) is Tomi Ahonen or Donald Duck or Mr X. We know from the digital footprint that this customer does buy Formula One racing content. Better than that the network collects info when I do it, where I do it, and even more importantly, with what other customers (social networking dimension and Reed's Law)

The digital footprint has great potential to be monetized. Now if we use the phone itself as the media channel to deliver our content, then it really becomes irrelevant what my true identity is. The digital footprint - say I consume Formula One news and play videogames - easily helps target offers for me, say a new Formula One videogame ha-ha..  Who cares if that game is supposedly sold to Donald Duck or Mr X, if we know exactly his phone number..

Great thinking Tony !!!