Targeted Ads
Targeted Advertising and Privacy
The essence of targeted advertising lies in the Internet's interactivity
via two-way communication. For example, when a web user types the keywords
"French wine," the response page displays not only the search results
but also advertising messages by wine sellers. Although advertisers
may send mass mails based on consumer profiles obtained through third-party
information sellers, web advertising allows a more integrated, real-time
targeting, which is then linked to market research, production, and
sales efforts. Interaction between advertisers and buyers brings up
a highly sensitive issue in Internet advertising, for example, the use
of consumer information. Electronic transactions leave a trail of information,
which can be used to generate powerful personal profiles for prospective
consumers. Yahoo!, for example, openly admits that the company is not
in the business of selling a search service but of selling consumer
information collected by the web server that monitors and records a
wide range of information about its visitors. Consumer surveys and market
research has always been an intrinsic part of a successful advertising
campaign. Now, extensive data on consumers are being gathered from various
sources, like telephone records, credit card usage, and web browsing.
Computers can easily cross-reference this data to generate databases
for specific advertising purposes. This cross-referenced information
about users is sometimes called meta information—meta information originally
meant the information about information—and has become the most valuable
information generated by the Internet. As it becomes more common, advertising
and marketing based on consumer meta information collected via the net
will become a contentious issue.
The economic implications of the use and misuse of this consumer information
cannot be ignored. First, sellers are able to offer customized products
instead of one of average tastes. Also, in many cases, consumers are
willing to reveal their preferences to get better quality in the way
of customized products.