I’ve seen a lot of talk recently about advertising on the web, particularly in blogs. One of the comments I found most interesting was that web-based ads would be a lot more effective if they were more targeted, ie. showing you only ads for stuff you actually wanted to buy.
The reason I find this so interesting is that while this isn’t an uncommon statement, I usually hear it from the same people bitching about internet privacy. In other words, they want a personalized experience, but they don’t want the site owner to know anything about them.
See the contradiction?
Google’s AdSense, which I use myself, does a pretty good job of compromising on this. AdSense ads don’t have to know anything about the audience, but they tend to advertise the same sorts of things as the content on the page. The theory is that you surfed to a particular page on purpose, that you have some connection to the content, and thus might have some connection to the ads. While this works better than random banner ads (it would almost have to, neh?) it’s still a far cry from truly personalized ads that cut right to what the reader wants to see.
I’m actually both hot and cold about this. Part of me really feels like targeted advertising would be not only a great way to make money from my websites, but also a pretty cool thing from a reader perspective. If I saw mostly word processor ads when I went to Palm Infocenter, I’d be more likely to click on them. On the other hand, I found the “walking through the mall with the talking billboards” scene in “Minority Report” one of the creepiest things in the movie. Do I really want a billboard at Target asking me how those pants I bought last time are working out? For that matter, I’m a little squeamish about Amazon’s recommendations.
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