Behavioral Targeting

It might seem a little on the creepy side that our every movement on the internet is tracked and recorded for advertisers to use, but I don't believe it's all bad news. With behavioral targeting, the ads can actually be useful to consumers. Internet users who have searched for a certain product in the past will be traced anonymously and then relevant ads will be presented to them on other sites within the network.

According to BehavioralTargeting.com
, "When used correctly, behavioral targeting can greatly increase the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns by finding your target users in a more efficient manner than basic Run of Network advertising buys."



Above is the screen capture of the cookies that are currently saved on my computer. Among others, here are 5 that I think are ad networks:
1. specificclick.com
2. tacoda.net
3. zedo.com
4. fastclick.net
5. advertising.com


Advertising.com
's website states,"Our network reaches nearly 90% of all Internet users in the U.S., making us the biggest ad network in town." Obviously they reached me, and I have only had my computer for a few weeks!

As for my personal browsing history, here are some examples of sites that I have visited recently (within the last week or so):
-wikipedia.com
-webmd.com
-usps.com
-siuc.edu
-dictionary.com
-northface.com
-apple.com
-oneclub.org
-fandango.com
-facebook.com
-google.com
-imbd.com
-fredflare.com
-urbanoutfitters.com
-amazon.com
-writing.com
-adage.com
-dailycandy.com
-etsy.com
-mtv.com
-ae.com
-weather.com
-bankofamerica.com

You might notice that on my list of websites are 2 movie-related sites: IMBD and Fandango. Behavioral targeting at work, someone else noticed this as well. As I was sitting here typing up my blog, I got a pop-up ad for NetFlix, (shown below). This is certainly not a coincidence. Everything in advertising is more planned out than the average person can even imagine!



I am also one of those dreaded shoppers who adds things to the cart but then almost never actually goes through the check-out process. I visit many clothing sites, but it is just to dream. If I were a retailer trying to gear towards someone like myself, I would have a feature like a mailing list or a wish list so that around holiday time when people are looking for gift ideas, the site would be remembered even though they can't always afford to purchase.

After all is said and done, people will always worry when it comes to their privacy. In actuality, the information that is collected by ad networks is all anonymous. They don't know our names or SS numbers. They only know what patterns of sites we visit and use that to try to guess what might be helpful to us. As
Revenue Science
puts it, "Behavioral targeting is the most effective way to reduce online waste."