Behavioral Targeting Might Become A Target Itself
As marketers, the Holy Grail is to put the right message in front of the right person at the right time so that they will do what is right: buy something. It’s a simple enough idea and many feel that we are well on our way to getting to that point with the use of behavioral targeting (BT). While from the marketers’ point of view this sounds all well and good there is a rising tide of concern that this practice will hit the wall soon over the word that makes every Internet marketer shiver: privacy.
MediaPost reports from the OMMA Behavioral conference yesterday that this is not going unnoticed by its practitioners.
Speaking at the OMMA Behavioral conference in New York, Adam Kasper, director of digital media at Media Contacts, warned that a “watershed moment” is coming for behavioral targeting when consumers gain greater awareness of the extent to which their online activity can be tracked and targeted, triggering a backlash.
“It’s the elephant in the room, and there’s going to be a point where consumers get it and there’s going to be a big public outcry,” said Kasper. For the most part, people don’t read privacy terms and conditions when they’re surfing the Web, so they’re not typically focused on the issue.
More and more I get the feeling that the industry as a whole is trying so hard to hold back what it really does to get information on people. Why? Because they know that when what happens with people’s data is brought into the light many people will feel that their privacy is being violated through a campaign of check boxes about fine print that no one truly reads or understands if they do read it. The industry sounds like a bunch of used car salesmen saying “Oh, don’t worry! She runs great and if you just sign here she’ll be yours and you’ll have NO problems! (wink, wink, nod, nod). They say this as they whisper to each other that they can’t believe what they are getting away with.
This “secret” isn’t likely to stay that way for much longer. Canada and the European Union appear hell bent on making sure that the Internet is safe for all and this practice will be targeted eventually. How wouldn’t it with people in the know talking like this
Melissa Adams, executive media director at Organic, noted that clients are already asking more questions about behavioral targeting even as they are drawn to its promise of more effective Web campaigns. “Clients are more interested in the details of where data is coming from than in the past,” she said.
Asked about whether that was a good sign, Adams said, “it’s positive if we can educate clients about the anonymity of it all and how it’s used to their benefit, but it’s a big bridge to cross to get them to understand there are safeguards in place.”
When you are asked at a conference if revealing the truth is a “good sign” that makes one wonder for sure what is really going on. And if that bridge referred to is big then it means that the industry’s not exactly rock solid with the whole anonymity and safety thing. As a result the industry is bracing itself for an event when someone makes a major privacy gaffe and the jig is up.
One way that the folks in this field think they can put fears to rest about data safety and people being truly aware of how they are tracked online is to set up a third party group to monitor the whole situation.
The panel more broadly agreed on the need for some type of third-party verification to vet the quality and sourcing of data supplied to agencies by outside technology vendors. That’s especially true as digital agencies are bombarded with pitches from myriad data providers and BT firms that all make similar promises about what their platforms can deliver.
If history has shown us anything it’s that when an industry talks about policing itself it is trying to do something to put regulatory suspicions to rest. The ability to say that “We’re watching the store and we promise to behave” (pun intended) is often enough to keep stronger rules and regulations from bigger groups (the government) from going on the books.
My suggestion for this industry is to act fast because once your elephant is out the stampede to figure out what is really going on might stop you dead in your tracks.
A bit.ly of Interesting News
So you are bit.ly and you just suffered through the announcement that your already crowded area of the Internet space has been sat on by the 800 pound Google gorilla with their announcement of the arrival of their own URL shortening service. That can make for a rough day. Sure competition is a good thing because all ships rise with a rising tide. Google makes those tides rise so fast sometimes though that the little ships get tossed in the air and don’t always land well.
Well, bit.ly is trying to do its part in making the URL shortening industry a little more interesting. They have announced their new Pro service. One wonders if they needed to announce it a little more hastily than anticipated considering the new “Google’s in the URL shortening house!” scenario. At any rate they are offering a chance for users to provide customized / personalized / whatever-ized shortened URL’s for those looking t stand out from the crowd. Their blog’s description goes a little something like this:
As part of our initial beta program, we’re making custom URLs available to a limited number of large and medium-sized Web publishers and bloggers, including AOL, Associated Content, Bing, Clicker, The Daily Telegraph, foursquare, GDGT, Hot Potato, The Huffington Post, IGN, kickstarter, Meebo, MSN, /Message (Stowe Boyd), The New York Times, OMGPOP, oneforty.com, The Onion, slideshare, someecards, TechCrunch, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network — which includes WSJ.com and MarketWatch.com — and blogger Baratunde Thurston (baratunde.com).
Users and publishers benefit from the additional transparency that this private-label service provides. When you see a short URL like nyti.ms, you know the destination web site before clicking on the link.
OK, good if you are one of the big boys. Goes on the wish list of most others. In addition the service is introducing a new dashboard as well. Go check out the picture at their blog which has itty-bit.ly print for you to strain over. The readable words from bit.ly about the dashboard are
We’re also excited to be introducing a unique real-time dashboard that will provide publishers with even more information about their bit.ly traffic. It’s a real-time view of how a given publisher’s content is being distributed across networks like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace and services like email, SMS, and instant messenger.
Now, I have to admit that this is cool. It’s fun to see this kind of innovation from someone other than the big names. I can’t help but wonder though just how long this kind of innovation will be available now that Google has entered the space. I have been a fan of Google for quite some time but it is starting to feel a little too ‘big brotherish’ at times.
When Google talked about the 3 S’s of their URL shortening service (security, stability and speed) all I could think about is the speed with which they are going to take all of the air out of the room for the little guy in this space and determine who may be allowed to stick around. What if Twitter decides to remove bit.ly as their default URL shortener and creates Twi.tr for their own branding purposes? There may be too much muscle for a player like bit.ly to stick around no matter how much innovation they provide.
Am I overreacting here? I’m sure you will let me know because that’s your job here at Marketing Pilgrim. Let’s hear it.
Yipee! Microsoft Enters the Social Media Monitoring Space
Microsoft is building a social media monitoring tool called Looking Glass.
Now, at this point, you’re probably thinking that I’m panicking. After all, isn’t that what my own company, Trackur, does? Aren’t I scared stiff that Microsoft will hurt my business?
Nope. In fact, when I spoke to Microsoft executives in 2008, I asked them why they didn’t already have a tool like this? If I can build Trackur, shame on Microsoft for not having its own offering.
Am I insane? Possibly, but for different reasons. Let’s explore this announcement.
The idea is to connect social-media-monitoring tools to the rest of a marketer’s organization — customer databases, work orders, customer-service centers and sales data. Looking Glass will pull in a variety of feeds from platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr and work with third-party data sources as well (the folks behind it have already talked to some firms such as Meteor Solutions and Telligent). All of the data collected will connect into Microsoft’s enterprise platforms, such as Outlook and Sharepoint.
If you read the entire Ad Age article, it becomes clear that Looking Glass will be tightly integrated with other Microsoft products–a feature that will delight some and completely repel others. In addition, there’s no news on how much Microsoft will charge for Looking Glass–will it be free or come with a hefty licensing fee.
Either way, I’m actually excited that Microsoft is getting into this space. They have many more dollars to throw into advertising and awareness campaigns. Let them spend the millions of dollars that are needed to convince businesses they need to monitor the web. Not all of those potential customers will feel comfortable with Microsoft, its platform, or its pricing, and so they’ll likely compare Trackur as an alternative. What is it they say about a rising tide? 
In fact, Visible Technologies has more to lose than Trackur–Microsoft currently pays them a hefty fee to use their social media measuring technology. I suspect, we’ll see that relationship come to an end at some point.
OK, but Andy. What if Microsoft offers Looking Glass for free?
So what? When Google rolled out Google Analytics for free, many suspected it would be the death knell for other analytics firms that charge for their product. There are 1.8 billion reasons why those fears didn’t materialize.
Personally, I expect Microsoft’s entry to the space to be a wake up call for its mid-size competitors. Do they build a competing social media measurement product or acquire existing technology? If it’s the latter, they know where to find me! 
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