Illustration courtesy of Si1very on Flickr
TWO-THIRDS OPPOSE AD TRACKING
Gallup
67% of Internet users are opposed to targeting advertising based on the types of websites you visit.
THOUGHT: People tend to talk a good game when it comes to their concern for privacy but when it comes to a choice between convenience or giving up some privacy, they tend to choose the former. In theory, everyone would prefer to keep their online behavior in the proverbial lockbox but when half the planet is on Facebook, freely giving up personal details hourly, it’s hard to get too worried that the online demographic/technographic well will run dry.
Don’t get wrong, though: I think privacy is a huge issue and one we’ve only barely begun to address the most profound aspect of which is the question of identity. Your cumulative online behavior is essentially your virtual identity.
Who owns that identity? That’s the profound question that has yet to be adequately resolved.
But, again, people talk a good game…
That’s why I think the news last week that Google rolled out behavioral targeting to all their AdWords advertisers is a big story. Since their self-serve model makes placing online advertising pretty damn easy, they’ve begun to democratize an advertising technology that has previously been beyond the reach of the small business budget.
Google is getting a run for their money from Facebook’s social media advertising platform that matches highly-refined demographic profiles to ads so they needed to come up with an answer. This is a good start, from an advertisers perspective.
From a users perspective, I’m betting that there won’t the the hue and cry that typically comes with such announcements because this type of behavioral targeting will not be nearly as noticeable as those banner ads for home improvement products that follow you around the web after you’ve visited the Home Depot site.
MINNESOTA MONDAY: The YMCA of Greater St. Paul and Metropolitan Minneapolis has won a national advertising award for their disgustingly-compelling butter-eating ad. [WATCH.]
Thank you for a Twins resurgence.
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