AOL is using penguins to explain the ad targeting technology that happens online, as they say its technical and people don’t really understand. I can agree with that, a lot of people in the ad industry that are not in online media don’t understand, so if people in the same office have a difficult time, I can only imagine my mom and friends trying to contemplate. There was an interesting post on the New York Times article discussing AOL’s attempt explaining the ad targeting technology.
Unlike most people, I seem to be frustrated by how irrelevant to me the ads I usually get are, and have given up clicking them.
I actually want to buy things on the web and if there were a form I could fill out stating in what areas I wanted to see ads, particularly from small and foreign companies I might not be aware of, I would gladly do so. Most of what I am interested in (documents and books on the history of diamonds prior to 1980 for example) is pretty esoteric, but the probability of my actually purchasing, if not now, then in the future, is perhaps gratifyingly high.
What the web really needs is a good, and well-known “Target Me With the Following Types of Ads” site with a section for “right now” and another for “permanently until further notice”.
I think this is an interesting comment but would be much tougher to actually facilitate than some believe. He went on later to explain that the Millenials “get it” in terms of ad supported content, but I don’t think he “gets it” when it comes down to actual targeting. If we begin creating a master list where users could “opt-in” to types of ads based upon interests it would become a nightmare to manage.
Each small company would want a specific niche market to target and the list of approved ad segments would become enormous and unmanageable. Instead, we need to trust technology and explain to people that data collection is safe and the better we become at it, the better targeted the ads will become and the more pleasure they will enjoy on their preferred sites. I think we would also face the same dillemas we haev with email opt-in lists. Which list did someone opt-in to, and which did they opt-out of? Is there a master opt-out list or an individual opt-out list for each? Did I opt-in to receive small business ads, or opt-in to receive small business technology solution ads?
Another interesting point to me was that, the quote talks about his interests in books about the history of diamonds prior to 1980, well I’m willing to bet that sites that offer those kind of books are placing cookies on his machine and learning that his interests are around diamonds. Whether they are acting on that data, that is a different question, but I bet they are collecting it.
Once companies understand how to use this data, and it becomes economically feasible, I believe the quality of internet advertising will increase and users will agree that data collection is making a better online experience, with or without the help of penguins.
Tags: online marketing, ad targeting, data collection, ad serving, cookies
