Show us your KOMs on Strava

[Patchelicious]

What you say has some merit but do you honestly think because you pay they won't sell your data as a product?

 

The cynic in me says besides subs that's where the real money is...

Their financial statements should calm your cynicism. Their revenue was data driven, it is now subscription driven.

 

You also need to think about “data is the new oil” a little ore than all data is equal.

 

The data that e-commerce needs and wants to sell you more and more target products, is mined from far richer sources than Strava. Think about the data on Strava vs the Data on FB, or even AI derived data from your thousands of posts on the Hub. Think about all the things you have posted about on FB, Twitter, the videos you watched, the comments, likes ad clicks on online forums, then compare that to very limited behavioral data that sits on Strava. They know where you cycle, what your heart rate is.... they can’t sell you a wide range of products based on that.

 

So while the data on Strava has some value, it is dwarfed by the value of data from hundreds of other interactions points and platforms.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Patchelicious

[The Ouzo]

Their financial statements should calm your cynicism. Their revenue was data driven, it is now subscription driven.

 

You also need to think about “data is the new oil” a little ore than all data is equal.

 

The data that e-commerce needs and wants to sell you more and more target products, is mined from far richer sources that Strava. Think about the data on Strava vs the Data on FB, or even AI derived data from your thousands of posts on the Hub. Think about all the things you have posted about on FB, Twitter, the videos you watched, the comments, likes ad clicks on online forums, then compare that to very limited behavioral data that sits on Strava. They know where you cycle, what your heart rate is.... they can’t sell you a wide range of products based on that.

 

So while the data on Strava has some value, it is dwarfed by the value of data from hundreds of other interactions points and platforms.

this became very evident the other day.

i had just bought a few things online using my home laptop. I get to work and am browsing a site and those exact items popped up in an add next to what I was reading.

[Frosty]

this became very evident the other day.

i had just bought a few things online using my home laptop. I get to work and am browsing a site and those exact items popped up in an add next to what I was reading.

Are you logged in on your devices with the same Google account? That’s a reason why it happens.

[The Ouzo]

Are you logged in on your devices with the same Google account? That’s a reason why it happens.

yeah my google account is the only account shared between the 2 machines.

[ChrisF]

Data mining ..... not sure Strava is our "biggest worry" ....

 

Just some of the ways big brother is watching me:

 

- e-logbook .... they know where and when I drive, well, my current unit is not cloud based.  I know most are.

 

- smart watch ....

 

- gps type bike computer that loads to Garmin\Wahoo\Polar\etc ....

 

- Looking at the purchase distribution on your debit\credit card statement they KNOW where you were, what you like, what your patterns are ....

 

- Recent experience would suggest that somebody at the deeds-office (or in this process) is selling information ....

 

 

 

"privacy" is an illusion that has not existed for many years .... big brother knows your moves.

 

 

 

point being - if you think that paying a monthly fee to Strava magically restores your privacy .... think again.  Those that want to data-mine you have just way too many options ....

[Matt]

argument invalid. strava used amazon AWS -> then Redshift -> and now uses the Snowflake cloud services.

so its web services/cloud functions are all outsourced and they just pay monthly subscription for other people to do the real work.

 

...and even more

 

"Strava stores around 120TB of data today, including 13 trillion GPS data points, 15 million uploads per week and 1.5 billion analytics points, which allow its analytics team to spot pinch points in the app where users might not be getting the best possible experience"

 

120Tb?? fill SA data centres? LOL.... 

 

The original version of Amazon AWS was created in Cape Town ;-)

and AWS has a few data centres here. Then theres Teraco in GP...

Were talking thousands of thousands of PBs...as in Petabytes.

120tb lol...there are people with more storage on their home computers.

If you step back from the semantics of the comment about computing power and filling data centres, michaelbiker's argument is still valid. What Strava does costs money. Even if infrastructure is "palmed off" to AWS that cost would still be significant.... sure, cheaper than alternatives, but still not free. And it's just one piece of the puzzle... the salaries of product managers, developers, designers, customer service people, etc. etc. will add up quickly. 

 

It will be a real test of how much their users value the product, but it's a bold (and I think necessary) step in a world dominated by often sketchy ad/data driven revenue models. 

[MORNE]

If you step back from the semantics of the comment about computing power and filling data centres, michaelbiker's argument is still valid. What Strava does costs money. Even if infrastructure is "palmed off" to AWS that cost would still be significant.... sure, cheaper than alternatives, but still not free. And it's just one piece of the puzzle... the salaries of product managers, developers, designers, customer service people, etc. etc. will add up quickly. 

 

It will be a real test of how much their users value the product, but it's a bold (and I think necessary) step in a world dominated by often sketchy ad/data driven revenue models. 

i get that....that was not what the comment was about.....more just the all so repetitive argument/perception that SA is so backwards that it must totally not be able to even have enough cloud storage for a puny little niche app like strava lol

[TNT1]

It will be a real test of how much their users value the product, but it's a bold (and I think necessary) step in a world dominated by often sketchy ad/data driven revenue models. 

I think it's the wrong time to roll it out though. Due to the coronachan, people are invariably riding less, and comparing their stats less, so the switch to the paid content isn't necessary for most.

 

Coupled to the fact that economically the entire world is under pressure, the price seems steep, especially in non-Dollar based economies. 

 

I guess we'll see, but I've already moved back to MapMyRide (where I've been since 2011).

[Robbie Stewart]

Dunno why people are complaining about Strava possibly selling their data, as if they somehow think their data is valuable other than perhaps getting targeted advertising (is that such a bad thing? I would prefer to be annoyed by cycle related advertising than some unrelated, complete off-topic advertising such as the best way to remove hemorrhoids). I digress. 

It has been widely mentioned by the government and Google that they will be using mobile tracking data which Alphabet (Google's parent co.) made available to them to monitor compliance with lockdown rules back when we were in level 5.

Does anyone honestly believe that the government will stop this once we return to life as normal. really?

 

and to think folks are sentimental and possessive about their Strava data...

[Matt]

I think it's the wrong time to roll it out though. Due to the coronachan, people are invariably riding less, and comparing their stats less, so the switch to the paid content isn't necessary for most.

 

Coupled to the fact that economically the entire world is under pressure, the price seems steep, especially in non-Dollar based economies. 

 

I guess we'll see, but I've already moved back to MapMyRide (where I've been since 2011).

Fair point, timing in many respects isn't ideal, especially when so many would have just shelled out a chunk of their coffee budget on Zwift and like you say, in ZARs it adds up. 

 

It will be interesting to see how much the network effects play a part... if X% of free users leave the platform does it significantly diminish the value for the subscribers? Looking at comments on here and Twitter that may the case for many.

 

 

 

[Stretch]

I use the training log because it's nice to see a visual of what you've done week on week. I also use the month on month graph to see how I'm doing against the previous month.... Is it worth €5 a month.. Probably not

Edited May 25, 2020 by Stretch

[Jewbacca]

I gave up Strava a while ago.

 

I think a lot of people would be really surprised how rad it is exercising without it. 

 

BUT, much like everything, we have all become accustomed to stats and the perceived need to have said stats. By all means stick to your training program, but leaderboards etc are easy to let go of.

 

Focus changes back to you and before you know it, you are enjoying looking for new lines, new things to pop off, different routes etc because you aren't fussed about times.

 

The addiction is real. Break the shackles of social media, be rad.

[Stretch]

If only the Garmin app wasn't so crap

[Patchelicious]

I gave up Strava a while ago.

 

I think a lot of people would be really surprised how rad it is exercising without it.

 

BUT, much like everything, we have all become accustomed to stats and the perceived need to have said stats. By all means stick to your training program, but leaderboards etc are easy to let go of.

 

Focus changes back to you and before you know it, you are enjoying looking for new lines, new things to pop off, different routes etc because you aren't fussed about times.

 

The addiction is real. Break the shackles of social media, be rad.

What a great post, that lost 100% of its effect with the very last word in it ????

[Jewbacca]

What a great post, that lost 100% of its effect with the very last word in it

Is it better or worse than kiff?

 

I've never been particularly hip......

[Patchelicious]

Is it better or worse than kiff?

 

I've never been particularly hip......

Both are gross, only Oli can pull off either.