Really? Everyone’s not like me?

In media planning, we need to fight the natural urge to see the world through our own lens, writes Newsworks’ Vanessa Clifford

If I was to place a bet on the presidential election based on the contents of my Facebook profile, I’d be putting my money on Hillary.

But then again, this is the trap that many of the 48% fell into before – left reeling by the referendum result because Facebook is primarily a friend-based platform and the simple fact is that we tend to make friends with people like us.

Yes, they might have been rooting for someone else to win Bake Off or have a penchant for over-using emojis in a way that you never would, but, when it comes to the big things, it’s likely that the majority share articles and videos that chime with your own views.

As a result, we can fall into the trap of believing everyone is like us, or as Katharine Viner eloquently puts it, existing in “echo chambers” where our opinions are constantly reflected back to us by others.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a similar point last week. Calling on major internet platforms to be more open about their use of algorithms, she said: “Algorithms, when they are not transparent, can lead to a distortion of our perceptions, they can shrink our expanse of information”.

Of course, surrounding ourselves with like-minded people is human nature and a similar pattern of behaviour plays out offline to an extent, but social media creates an exaggerated and superficial environment of like-mindedness.

Just like an Instagram filter, it can distort our view of the real world and narrow our perception of current affairs. While it’s sometimes very easy to believe that everyone is like us, this politically divisive year shows that definitely isn’t the case.

A similar concept applies when it comes to understanding media behaviours. If your family and friends all watch Netflix, or if you go to the supermarket week after week and one particular newspaper is always sold out, you would be forgiven for forming the impression that everyone is glued to House of Cards or perusing the Guardian.

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We’re all guilty of it, but when it comes to creating media plans, we have to ward against that sort of thinking.

As the IPA’s Lynne Robinson recently wrote for Mediatel, media consumption has “become more fluid than ever before”, which increases the importance of “keeping in touch with audience behaviours”.

I totally agree with this. In our sharing, streaming, scrolling world it’s more important than ever that we understand what people are actually doing.

To this end, we have to look outside of ourselves and take the wide view because the simple fact is that we – yes, us that work in the media industry and probably live or work in London – are not like everyone else (and not only because we’re willing to hand over the best part of a fiver for a flat white and a croissant in the morning).

With this in mind, Newsworks embarked on an experiment. We asked 30 media agency planners – mainly 23 to 27 year olds, plus four agency leaders – to keep a TouchPoints diary for a week in July and used TouchPoints 2016 data to compare their media consumption with their age counterparts around the country.

When it comes to the millennial cohort, we found that our young planners watched over an hour less of TV content a day, spent less time with newspapers in print and online, watched three times more Netflix and spent almost twice as much time on email as their age group in the rest of the UK.

Just four titles made it onto the list of newspapers they read in print: Metro, i, the Evening Standard and the Guardian. Digitally, MailOnline and the FT joined the roster. By comparison, young people in the rest of the country consume a share of 13 titles in print and 10 online.

A similar story played out with the agency leaders. They spent three hours less a day in front of the box compared to 40-55 year olds outside of London, over an hour less listening to the radio, 18 minutes less with print newspapers and 27 minutes less consuming newsbrands’ content online.

The simple truth is, our media habits are not representative of the norm – and it’s not just us that are saying it. Recent research by Thinkbox and Ipsos Connect revealed a clear disparity between advertisers’ assumptions of TV viewing habits and the real figures, contradicting the assumption that viewers are largely migrating online.

Of course, working in the media industry means being one step ahead. We love nothing more than a new kid on the block: Oculus Rift, Google Glass, Pokémon GO (half of our agency participants played, logging in 50 times each on average during the seven days they were keeping diaries).

All have burst onto the scene to be hailed in media circles as the next ‘big thing’. It’s this constant development and innovation that keeps things dynamic and interesting, providing exciting opportunities for publishers, broadcasters, advertisers and consumers alike.

Yet, while TouchPoints shows us that people’s media consumption is becoming increasingly fluid, we shouldn’t forget that most are also continuing to do what they always have. They’re reading newsbrands, watching TV and listening to the radio – more often than we are.

We are right to be looking to the future and the opportunities it holds for all of us, but let’s not lose sight of the here and now. Say Oculus Rift to most people and they’re probably thinking along the lines of a distant galaxy or sea-bed rock formation.

Just as we need to check Facebooks’ algorithmically edited view of the world, we need to fight the natural urge to see the world though our own lens.

When it comes to media planning, let’s take the wide view and not use our own experiences as a benchmark. Not doing so would not only be a disservice to brands and their consumers, but also have far reaching implications.

These may not show up in the short-term measures and the thirst for instant sales, but in the long-term it will have a detrimental effect on their businesses.

Having said that, when it comes to this week’s election, let’s hope my Facebook feed is on the money.

Vanessa Clifford is interim CEO of Newsworks