Monday, March 26, 2007

Behavioral Bill of Rights Needed

Behavioral networks Revenue Science and Tacoda are demystifying how behavioral networks work to take some of the FUD out of participating whether you are a consumer, advertiser or publisher. So far marketers have only scratched the surface of what behavioral targeting can offer, but that may be changing soon.

HowToTarget.com from Revenue Science explains how it works, which potentially should be much more effectively than contextual or search marketing. Similarly, Tacoda published principles for data use to pacify those worried about privacy.

Anyone can hit on a keyword or article once, giving the impression that they are interested in buying something related. But by tracking searches and articles read over time, publishers can get a genuine insight into interests and buying patterns. If you read about or search on fishing equipment every day for a week, that's obviously exponentially more valuable than someone who happens on an article about the last fly fishing lure.

While some of the networks have thousands of sites, many of any individual's searches and browsing will be done outside of any one network's reach, limiting their effectiveness. Also, the privacy implications are huge, as getting access to someone's browsing/purchasing history would at minimum be irritating, and at worst aid identity theft.

Behavioral ad networks should get together and adopt what is expected of publishers and advertisers so that consumers will feel comfortable with multiple networks. No sharing of data to third parties, clear opt-out choices, and period clearing of cookies are a minimum. If they can agree together on standards, each network (and consumers) will be better off in the long run.

Posted By John Gartner at 04:06 PM
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