Screenwise Panel bias

[ikissfutebol]

I just received my $5 bribe today. In the process of thinking it might be a good idea (particularly during the holiday season), I clicked through the initial survey and got to the "select your smartphone OS" page. There were a number of them listed- Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, Other, etc. Yes- it still had Windows Mobile. Naturally, I clicked Other since Windows Mobile =/= Windows Phone and was instantly disqualified from the survey. I immediately called support and essentially was told by the guy that he thought that I would have still been qualified if I selected Windows Mobile and not Other. Oh right...you can apparently qualify with a feature phone, but not get any financial bonus.

Is Google REALLY that disgusting of a marketing company to only be interested in everyone, but Windows Phone users? I explained this and even asked specifically to speak to a supervisor and also tweeted how it was a total sham. After venting my frustration, I quickly put my rational thinking hat on and realized I'm not so desperate that I will knowingly sell all my personal information to the devil for $30/month.

Anyone else think this beef with the company that essentially allowed you (Google) to get huge is really stupid?

 

[xandros9]

well some people legitimately get the two confused, so it could've been either an honest mistake or someone in Google just going "F it, close enough, I have other problems"

out of curiosity, what other OSes were there?

 

[anony_mouse]

Is Google REALLY that disgusting of a marketing company to only be interested in everyone, but Windows Phone users?

Have you heard of Hanlon's Razor? Hanlon's razor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(BTW, I thought the quote was from Napolean, but Wikipedia disagrees)

 

[ikissfutebol]

well some people legitimately get the two confused, so it could've been either an honest mistake or someone in Google just going "F it, close enough, I have other problems"

out of curiosity, what other OSes were there?

If memory serves- Firefox and Blackberry were the other options. I just found it shocking to see it listed as Windows Mobile. Regardless- as I asked tech support and he thought I was correct, I would apparently still qualify for Screenwise if I had a feature phone, yet get disqualified because I have a Windows Phone. I tweeted the survey company and they apparently want me to call back tech support (sit on hold for another hour) to be told tough luck. I know because I asked and the supervisor couldn't give a care nor the first level tech.

 

[ikissfutebol]

If it was stupidity, why has Google pulled most support for Windows Phone and even (if memory serves) the Windows 8 mail app? As far as the Screenwise Panel goes, it's literally a way for Google to collect all the data they want so they can sell it to third-party vendors. Google is and always will be a marketing company before all else. I don't think they are interested in anyone who they feel cannot install Chrome onto their system. For instance- our Surface RT, Lumia 928, and HTC 8X would be useless for them so why bother with me.

 

[Cleavitt76]

Agreed. I had to go look up Screenwise since I wasn't familiar with it. One thing I noticed is that it requires you to use Chrome to participate. They use Chrome extensions as the mechanism to collect data about your browsing habits for the program. WP doesn't have a Chrome app so it doesn't meet the requirements for Screenwise.

My personal feeling is that giving up your privacy is not worth the money anyway.