Children's Privacy in the Big Data Era: Research Opportunities.

This article focuses on the privacy implications of advertising on social media, mobile apps, and games directed at children. Academic research on children's privacy has primarily focused on the safety risks involved in sharing personal information on the Internet, leaving market forces (such as commercial data collection) as a less discussed aspect of children's privacy. Yet, children's privacy in the digital era cannot be fully understood without examining marketing practices, especially in the context of "big data." As children increasingly consume content on an ever-expanding variety of digital devices, media and advertising industries are creating new ways to track their behaviors and target them with personalized content and marketing messages based on individual profiles. The advent of the so-called Internet of Things, with its ubiquitous sensors, is expanding these data collection and profiling practices. These trends raise serious concerns about digital dossiers that could follow young people into adulthood, affecting their access to education, employment, health care, and financial services. Although US privacy law provides some safeguards for children younger than 13 years old online, adolescents are afforded no such protections. Moreover, scholarship on children and privacy continues to lag behind the changes taking place in global media, advertising, and technology. This article proposes collaboration among researchers from a range of fields that will enable cross-disciplinary studies addressing not only the developmental issues related to different age groups but also the design of digital media platforms and the strategies used to influence young people.

The new threat of digital marketing.

Because of their avid use of new media and their increased spending power, children and teens have become primary targets of a new "media and marketing ecosystem." The digital marketplace is undergoing rapid innovation as new technologies and software applications continue to reshape the media landscape and user behaviors. The advertising industry, in many instances led by food and beverage marketers, is purposefully exploiting the special relationship that youth have with new media, as online marketing campaigns create unprecedented intimacies between adolescents and the brands and products that now literally surround them.

Interactive food and beverage marketing: targeting adolescents in the digital age.

Because of their avid use of new media and their increased spending power, adolescents have become primary targets of a new "Media and Marketing Ecosystem." Digital media resonate particularly well with many of the fundamental developmental tasks of adolescence by enabling instantaneous and constant contact with peers, providing opportunities for self-expression, identity exploration, and social interaction, and facilitating mobility and independence. Six key features of interactive media--ubiquitous connectivity, personalization, peer-to-peer networking, engagement, immersion, and content creation--are emblematic of the ways in which young people are both shaping and being shaped by this new digital culture. The advertising industry, in many instances led by food and beverage marketers, is purposefully exploiting the special relationship that teenagers have with new media, with online marketing campaigns that create unprecedented intimacies between adolescents and the brands and products that now literally surround them. Major food and beverage companies, including Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Burger King, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), have incorporated these elements into their interactive marketing strategies, posing particular risks to adolescents, who are not being addressed in the current U.S. policy and self-regulatory regimens. However, recent and emerging neuroscience and psychological research on adolescents suggests a need to revisit the traditional approach to regulation of advertising. Despite the growth of interactive marketing, academic research on the impact of digital advertising on children and youth remains underdeveloped. Additional research and policy initiatives are needed to address the growing health threat facing youth in the digital marketplace.