Privacy Policy — M. Shanken Audience Dashboard

Overview

The M. Shanken Audience Dashboard ("the Dashboard") is an internal analytics tool operated by M. Shanken Communications, Inc. ("M. Shanken," "we," "us"). It is used exclusively by authorized M. Shanken employees to measure the performance of media properties and social media accounts that M. Shanken owns and operates, including Wine Spectator, Whisky Advocate, and Cigar Aficionado. This policy explains what data the Dashboard accesses and how it is used.

Optional Google contacts and calendar import

Employees may connect their own company Google account to review and import selected contacts and primary-calendar events. This feature requests read-only access to the features the employee chooses; it does not read Gmail messages. Imported contact names, business contact details, and selected event titles, times, and locations are private to the importing employee within the dashboard. The feature does not share them through sales management or delegate permissions.

Imports are saved snapshots. Employees can update selected records by importing them again, remove imported records from My contacts & calendar, or disconnect Google. Disconnecting removes the dashboard’s saved connection credentials; imported records remain until removed. Removing a dashboard record does not delete the original from Google. Refresh credentials are encrypted and accessed only by the server. Imported records are not used by the dashboard’s AI assistant.

Who can access the Dashboard

Access is restricted to authenticated M. Shanken employees using their company Google Workspace accounts. The Dashboard is not available to the public and does not have external users.

Data we access

The Dashboard connects to analytics and social media platforms to retrieve performance data for accounts and properties that M. Shanken owns and controls. This includes:

• Google Analytics (GA4): website traffic and audience metrics for M. Shanken brand websites, including sessions, users, pageviews, traffic sources, top content, geography, and device information.
• YouTube: channel and video performance metrics for M. Shanken brand YouTube channels, including subscribers, views, and per-video statistics.
• Meta (Instagram and Facebook): content, media, insights, audience demographics, and engagement data, including comments, for the Instagram Business accounts and Facebook Pages that M. Shanken owns and manages through its Meta Business Manager.

We access data only from accounts and properties owned and operated by M. Shanken. We do not access, collect, scrape, or store data from accounts, pages, or profiles that M. Shanken does not own.

How we use the data

The data is used solely for internal performance reporting and analysis, helping M. Shanken's editorial, marketing, and leadership teams understand how our own published content and digital properties are performing. The data is presented within the Dashboard to authorized employees.

How we store and protect the data

Retrieved data is stored in a secured database accessible only to the Dashboard's authorized systems and employees. Access credentials and authentication tokens are stored securely and used only to retrieve data from the connected accounts.

Data sharing

We do not sell, rent, or share this data with third parties. The data is not used for advertising targeting and is not disclosed outside M. Shanken Communications.

Data retention

Performance data is retained for internal historical reporting and trend analysis. We retain data for as long as it is useful for these internal purposes.

Third-party platforms

The Dashboard accesses data through the official APIs of Google and Meta. Use of those platforms is also governed by their respective privacy policies and terms.

Contact

For questions about this policy or the Dashboard's data practices, contact M. Shanken Communications at mcapace@mshanken.com.