I’ve heard about targeted marketing/personalized advertising and am sure that occasionally some internet ads were directed at me, but I didn’t understand how it worked until I read this Washington Post article. Apparently the presidential candidates, especially Obama, are using targeted advertising to connect with potential supporters. They pay Google, for a specified time, to place one of their ads whenever someone searches for terms they have chosen. For instance when I typed in “immigration reform” the Obama ad appeared at the top of the list on the right side of the page:
According to the article if I had clicked on the top link taking me to barackobama.com/immigration-reform I would have been followed around the internet and seen new ads based on what they thought I was interested in. Apparently that happens all the time when we click on paid ads unless we opt out:
Even if I had clicked on the Obama ad (I didn’t because I’m not interested in political advertising) I could have blocked ads from barackobama.com or else opted out of all personalized ads. I didn’t bother to opt out because mostly I tune out the ads and don’t click on them. Google clearly distinguishes between paid ads and regular search results. I am grateful for the Washington Post article for explaining how the system works. It’s nice to know what my choices are.
What about you? How much attention do you pay to advertising?
Nil. Facebook is even better/worse than google. Every time you visit a blog with one of their buttons on the site your visit is recorded.
Evan,
Yes, Facebook is notorious for spreading information about not only the user but also the user’s friends, without their permission. The Wall Street Journal just published this article about it. I mostly stay away from Facebook.
I pay very little attention to advertising when I’m on-line. While I use facebook very extensively, I use only a couple of apps and they are limited in the information they use. I’ve steered clear off games and apps on Facebook after an early bad experience with one — don’t remember the details.
A semi-quote from “Digital Music Wars: Ownership and control of the celestial jukebox” – one of the books I’m scanning for a forthcoming essay has this to say in 2006 on matter concerning the Internet (yes it’s written by some Americans): the USA gov’t saw it as a potential money gathering source and rushed it into home (computer)…the new superhighway. In regards to music, it won’t accept your loose coins but it will accept your credit card AND it gathers a lot of personal information about you AND stores it like any profit driven company SO to know how best to offer more incentives for you to buy…or it sells your info to some other party who in turn will show you how to buy some more 🙂 Apparently the ‘gov’t’ thought consumers wanted all this!
I haven’t really ever hit the advertising streams but I guess people do. I remember in the early days at one of the chat rooms I frequent that they were always advertising American things but now the smart computer offers me much which relates to NZ – doesn’t matter where I am on the superhighway…lately I have wanted to tell the computer “I’ve gone over to PowerShop so stop bothering me” 🙂
No attention whatsoever.
Mike,
From what I’ve read it’s the apps that can cause trouble. Mainly if you share personal information with friends that you don’t want the whole world to know. Some apps figure if the user shares his/her information then it’s all right to use/sell the friends’ information too.
Cathy,
If you now only get ads for NZ then to a certain extent those ads are personalized. It makes sense to do it that way.
What is PowerShop?
I tend to tune out ads, but I do most of my shopping online and get a lot of emails trying to get me to buy more. I don’t mark them as spam if they’re from companies I’ve bought from. Sometimes they have good prices on things I’m ready to buy. It’s easy enough to delete them if I’m not interested. And today I checked on an offer from audible.com. It was a one-year anniversary present, a coupon worth $10. I had a book on my Wish List that cost slightly less than that so I got it for free.
Rummuser,
As I told Cathy, I tend not to click on ads, but I do pay attention to some emails.
http://www.powershop.co.nz/
it’s a new way to have your electricity, it gives you more power to decide how much power will pay for and when. Instead of getting just one monthly bill, you get a weekly update, and it shows your power usage and various other things. You feel more in control, and not just a small fish in a big company!
I still don’t really know how it works, but it looks interesting, especially graphs and data that they send you 🙂
Hi. I followed you here from ‘dcrelief’. A very entertaining Blog! I enjoyed reading some of your recent posts and will return for more when time permits.
We all claim to ignore ads but it’s not really possible . They work on a sub-conscious level; why would the the agencies spend all that money if it doesn’t work?
I once clicked through to an ad for Solar Energy and for a week after that their ads kept appearing on various sites I was at!
Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
I don’t click on ads but now you’ve got me thinking? I’m going to pay attention to see what is being advertised when on facebook. That should tell me if I’m being closely targeted? Thanks for the heads up!
(typed by hand, bluetooth charging!)
I really have started looking again at ads/online as they now really do seem to target where I’m domiciled. My gmail has an innocent little line above the inbox/folders and today it’s definitely advertising at times things I use online, yesterday it was advertising the Dragon Text/Speech that I already own…as I said powershop popped up I think on a You Tube clip!!
today gmail is advertising “save my bacon” to do with instant finance…:-) AND NO I will not be clicking on it, or even getting into that kind of continuous debt!
Cathy,
Thanks for explaining PowerShop. It sounds like a great idea.
I agree with you about avoiding an ad for instant finance. That’s a good way to get hopelessly into debt.
I’m glad Dragon is working for you…when your bluetooth is charged. 😉 I tried it years ago and was impressed even then. In general I prefer typing, which for me is a good thing. The Mac version didn’t get very high ratings when I looked it up, and it’s a lot more expensive.
Bazza,
I think I mostly tune out ads unless it’s for something I’m interested in. It’s like how I tune out the makes of cars unless it’s time for us to buy a new one. Then suddenly I automatically start noticing. I do notice ads that have animation, even if I dismiss them as soon as I see what they are.
Eduardo,
It is interesting to see how our consciousness gets raised, isn’t it?
This answers a lot of my questions. Wow, I need to look at the ‘opt out’ plan. Thanks.
Hi Cheerful Monk (or should I call you Jean?)!
I rarely click on ads but this target advertising doesn’t bother me, because I still have the choice to click on it or not.
On Gmail they also display these interesting ads (that match the words you use on emails)…so I am familiar with it.
Nevertheless, you are right: it is good to know what our options are.
Cheers
Max,
I was surprised when I read that gmail checks my email for words I use. I never noticed the ads, and I still tune them out. It bothered me at first they were searching the contents of my mail, but then decided it wouldn’t hurt. I mostly use AOL and have no idea what they do.
Really? It seems that nobody’s impossible in the Internet nowadays. It would be annoying to look at advertisements especially when you’re looking for important documents. Thanks!
Saraya,
I spend a lot of time getting information on the internet. I focus on what I’m looking for and ignore the ads unless they’re relevant. I have a great capacity for tuning things out, as you could easily tell if you looked at my apartment! It works for me, but I’m sure serious housekeepers would be horrified. 😀