Re: Marketers Trace Paths Users Leave on Internet


"Winston Smith" <bogus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:vja2f2hn192tfd42ia5bt9t255kejj9cck@xxxxxxxxxx
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/technology/15search.html?ref=todayspaper
Marketers Trace Paths Users Leave on Internet

selected snips
"Search behavior is the closest thing we have to a window onto
people's intent," said Jeff Marshall, a senior vice president of
Starcom IP, an advertising agency. "When people are gathering
information to make a choice, that means they are often going to spend
money."

Many Internet users have no idea that records of their actions are
being collected and used. They might find out about these practices
only if they read the fine print of Web site privacy policies.

Not all of the behavioral marketing involves search engines.
Technology from companies like DoubleClick and AOL's Advertising.com
unit allows marketing messages to follow people around the Web.

"You are no longer targeting people you think will be interested in
your product," said Les Kruger, a senior marketing manager at
Cingular. "We know based on your behavior that you are in the market,
and we can target you as you bounce around the Internet."

Most of these marketing systems use cookies, unique numbers that a Web
site can place on a computer to spot return visitors. Cookies are also
used by companies like Advertising.com that place ads and track
visitors across many sites.

For example, Seevast, an Internet advertising company, pays Web sites
to place its cookies on the computers of users that visit them. That
way, Seevast will know more about those users when it chooses which
advertisements to display on sites in its network.

Yahoo's new system is based on monitoring for 300 types of behavior -
some as detailed as having shopped for flowers in the last two days -
but it does not keep records on more sensitive topics, like specific
medical conditions.

"We sell people, not pages," said David Morgan, the chairman of Tacoda
Systems, which sells technology for behavioral targeting
At first, Tacoda offered a service to allow companies to track
behavior on their own sites. Now it runs a network across 3,500 sites,
so Weather.com, for example, can show lucrative auto ads to its users
who recently visited Car.com.

"The ad is less expected and is playing to your subconscious," said
Lydia Snape, the director of online marketing


http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115568221756536623-nuV9CNmtDWiGpa61bd
XNYnDKnsM_20070816.html?mod=blogs
Consider the person who, over the course of a few minutes, searched
for "What to do when your Christian husband turns away from God," "How
to deal with mental abuse in a Christian marriage" and "Do I stay or
go when a Christian husband is on drugs and alcohol."

One of the recommended sites gave thoughtful answers to important life
questions from an evangelical Christian perspective. The other hawked
Bible books.


I'd like to see someone create a web browser that filters out all ads,
banners, etc...
A browser that basicly says *** you to all who wish to sell you ***.

n.


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