Jeff Chester Reports on Digital Media and the Public Interest
Via “The comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review [January 2009].”–
“U.S. Internet users viewed a total of 4.5 trillion display ads (standard and non-standard IAB units, includes both static and rich media, but not video) during the past twelve monhs, with the average person viewing more than 2,000 ads per month.”
From Yahoo Advertising [an excerpt:]
“Demographic Targeting
Our more than 150 million registered users have told us a lot about themselves, including date-of-birth, zipcode, gender, and occupation, plus a wide range of self-identified interest areas. When added to standard 3rd party data, it adds up to an incredible array of demographic options.
Geographic Targeting
Based on zipcodes, we can target to states, DMA’s, election districts or virtually any other way of looking at the world by location.
Behavioral Targeting
Target visitors by what they are currently doing and have been doing. Looking for car shoppers, soccer moms or recent shoppers in any category? We have them…
Database Targeting
Match your customers with ours, and find lots more look-alikes, too.”
Google’s new application called Latitude is just one of a growing number of efforts that help extend social networking into the mobile space. But its role is also to help further develop Google’s online marketing and advertising apparatus into what will be a very lucrative mobile space. After all, Google CEO Eric Schmidt declared in 2007 that the biggest opportunity online was “Mobile, mobile, mobile — it’s probably the most wide open space out there right now. Also, local. Most search companies don’t take advantage of the local data inherent in the web.” Last year, in an interview with a German newspaper, Mr. Schmidt explained that “The next big wave in advertising is the mobile internet.”
Latitude fits in with Google’s plans to expand its mobile marketing business, and this should raise both privacy and consumer protection issues.  Reporters covering the online ad business spotted Latitude as a move by Google to broaden its mobile marketing clout. For example, Laurie Sullivan from MediaPost noted that:
“Google came one step closer Wednesday to providing brands with a one-to-one mobile marketing and ad tool that speaks directly to consumers. The company, which dominates in the mobile mapping space, launched an add-on social network service called Latitude.
And while the service clearly aims to focus on social networking–connecting friends and family by sharing their whereabouts–the application could easily adopt mobile marketing applications that target users with special deals and ads at specific locations such as in front of Starbucks or McDonald’s as they drive or walk down the street…Industry insiders are not convinced the service will stop with a social network service to connect with friends and family. The social network is the next logical step for Google to further its mobile services–mapping, networking and advertising–but the technology makes location-based advertising a real possibility… said Dave Tan, VP of content solutions at Resolution Media, an Omnicom Media Group company. “Mobile advertising tethered to GPS/cell-tower based location information has tremendous opportunities…” Â
Writing on AdAge.com, one marketer explained that “Google’s merging of a utility like Google maps with social networking is a great opportunity for marketers. Until now, social apps like those on Facebook and MySpace were used when primarily when one wasn’t doing anything else, making advertising to that person difficult for driving call to action. With Google Latitude, social networking is integrated into tools that people use while doing something or seeking something.”
Of interest too was the announcement this week by Google Health partner Anvita Health that it was introducing “a new mobile viewer for Google Health that is built on the Android platform..The Anvita Mobile Viewer enables users of Google Health to view their Google Health profile data from Android-powered devices…This allows for on-demand and real-time view of their medical records anytime and anywhere and provides for more flexibility when visiting physicians, pharmacists, and other care provide…Anvita Health provides innovative health care analytics to its customers who, in aggregate, manage more than 50 million lives.”
Google should acknowledge whether Latitude will eventually be linked to marketing, and also if it is collecting any analytical data when users agree to use it. For example, what kind of mobile health marketing does Google plan to do, and will it be connected to Latitude? One of the frustrating things about Google is that it always attempts to frame what it does for the public as some beneficent gift. It’s privacy PR video for Latitude describes the service as a “fun, useful feature.” It should be more forthright about its plans for mobile marketing, and should develop a system which clearly informs users how the data will be collected and used. Google should also more closely examine how to empower mobile users so they have real control of what data is collected–including what is used for marketing and advertising purposes. But we are working to get the FTC to actually develop safeguards for this mobile marketplace, including ensuring “opt-in” really gives users knowledge and control.
PS: It never hurts to see what Google is telling major advertisers they can do via its DoubleClick Mobile: “Now publishers can deploy mobile advertising with the same confidence and control as online display ads…gives you all the power you need to deliver truly effective mobile campaigns. When creating your ad, you can make use of link text, jump pages and roadblock pairing to deliver greater impact…DoubleClick Mobile enables you to manage and report on your mobile advertising campaign through every click. We’ve made it easy to set campaign dates, define mobile specific targeting criteria and get full reports on all mobile campaigns.”
There’s nothing to say except read what this marketer wrote for MediaPost’s Engage series.
Excerpt:Â “To effectively reach Hispanic tweens…Don’t forget mobile. Many tweens already have cell phones, and they use them daily to text their friends. Text messages are a key way to connect with tweens, especially if you offer them a fun service, such as daily horoscopes, that doesn’t feel like an ad. Cell phone numbers can be collected right alongside emails in your lead-gen efforts. You get a branding boost, as well as their mobile number in your database for future text messaging campaigns.”
source: Make Your Marketing Dollars Pay: Target Tweens. Engage Hispanics: MediaPost. February 6, 2009
This week we learned that the long-time reporter covering the cable industry in Washington, D.C. for the industry “trade” publication Multichannel News had lost his job. Variety also closed its DC bureau in December. Hollywood Reporter doesn’t have its veteran DC reporter. Adweek/Mediaweek/Brandweek no longer have a regular person based in Washington. There’s been consolidation at Ad Age and TV Week as well, with one journalist now responsible covering issues for both publications. We understand there has been some belt-tightening also at Broadcasting and Cable.
These D.C.-based reporters played an incredibly important role–not just covering their own industry for insiders, but providing people like myself (consumer and public interest advocates) real insight into what the industry was actually saying and doing. I know many of these journalists–they are fine reporters who did their work seriously.  I imagine reporters working for trade publications covering other industries have also lost their positions. The losses in the daily print press are frightening. And so too is the decimation of the cadre of trade journalists covering the media and entertainment industry. Trade reporters are a crucial part of the journalistic ecosystem–their loss is another indication of how the entire journalistic enterprise is collapsing. It cannot be replaced solely by bloggers. It takes real shoe “leather” and digging into the facts on a daily basis they helps keep an industry accountable–and the public informed (including industry insiders ).
We have longed urged officials in the Newspaper Guild and academic journalists to call for congressional hearings into the plight of journalists and newspapers. Sadly, they did not act to, for example, have Congress and the states implement the many common sense recommendations made in 2001 by the writers of Taking Stock: Journalism and the Publicly Traded Newspaper Company. The American public needs to understand what the loss of reporting institutions means for the country’s democratic future. And we should enact new laws and regulations which help save what is left, allowing those who really care to own and operate these outlets. And we require new policies which can help spur the emergence of a new generation of sustainable digital news services.
Via scobleizer.com [excerpt from interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. My bold]:
Facebook is, he told me, studying “sentiment†behavior. It hasn’t yet used that research in its public service yet, but is looking to figure out if people are having a good day or bad day. He said that already his teams are able to sense when nasty news, like stock prices are headed down, is underway. He also told me that the sentiment engine notices a lot of “going out†kinds of messages on Friday afternoon and then notices a lot of “hungover†messages on Saturday morning. He’s not sure where that research will lead. We talked about how sentiment analysis might lead to a new kind of news display in Facebook. Knowing whether a story is positive or negative would let Facebook pick a good selection of both kinds of news, or maybe even let you choose whether you want to see only “happy†news.”Â
source: Zuckerberg: Facebook’s “intense†year. scobleizer.com
I applaud Google for supporting an academic initiative announced today that provides tools and other services to users so they can measure and test their broadband connection. These tools and effort will permit users to have greater insight into how their ISPs are shaping network traffic–it’s part of the important campaign to ensure network neutrality. Google has been a leader in this area, and we commend them.
But Google should now use its resources to create a public tool for privacy, so that everyone can be informed about what kind of data is being collected from them–and who is collecting it. That would mean identifying, for example, what Google collects for itself, for DoubleClick, YouTube, Feedburner and other services. Of course, the tool would help consumers/citizens know about all data collection, not just via Google. Beyond a new tool, Google should also support the passage of national privacy protection laws. Google needs to also be a serious policy leader on privacy.  An open and unfettered connection is just one of the conditions global users require to ensure a democratic online medium. So is meaningful privacy.
We just saw the press release from Facebook announcing that Donald Graham, the chairman and CEO of the Washington Post company joined its board this month. While it makes perfect business sense for the Post and Facebook to co-mingle, it’s bad for journalism. Facebook’s work raises a host of policy issues–including privacy and consumer protection for online marketing–which requires a watchdoging independent press. Mr. Graham’s new role sends the wrong signal to the already under stress reporters and editors who work for him. We need tough investigative report on the digital marketplace–not some mutual-old-media-back-scratching-new-media relationship. Here’s an excerpt from the press release announcing Mr. Graham’s new role:
“Don Graham understands how to build and manage an organization for the long term,†explained Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. “He has made The Washington Post Company one of the most valued and respected education and media companies while making society more open and understanding. What I most admire about Don is his commitment to build around this purpose – and not just a business. His decision to join our board means that Facebook will benefit from this insight and experience.â€
“Facebook has completely transformed how people interact by providing a compelling forum where millions and millions of people can connect and share,†said Graham. “Mark’s sense of what Facebook can do is quite remarkable.â€
Perfect timing for International Privacy Day. A new behavioral targeting product that will soon be released. Here’s an excerpt from the press release: “TARGUSinfo, the leading provider of On-Demand Insight(SM) about prospects and customers, plans to unveil AdAdvisor(SM) services…a new predictive-targeting solution leveraging the industry’s largest repository of verified offline lifestyle and demographic information. “The power of AdAdvisor is that it enables ad networks, publishers and advertisers to serve the ad most likely to prompt a profitable response for every user based on the most predictive offline consumer information,”…When an ad network sees a user on its’ publisher network, AdAdvisor cookies relay precisely which segment they fall within and enables ad networks and publishers to serve the most relevant advertisement — from the moment they first encounter users.”…Extensive Coverage – More than 50 million unique cookies, each embedded with highly predictive data attributes.”
and from Targusinfo’s site: “Each AdAdvisor cookie contains verified, household-level demographics, interests and purchase behaviors. Our cookies are then deployed to score Internet users according to their unique segment — enabling you to serve the ad most likely to trigger a response…
“We deliver unprecedented predictive power. Our cookie-based services deliver rich, offline consumer information to boost existing behavioral-targeting methods.”
The company’s privacy policy states that “AdAdvisor services place a cookie containing non-personally identifiable information on a user’s computer…AdAdvisor cookies enable Web sites using the Services to recognize users when they return to those Web sites…The cookies used by the Services do not contain any personally identifiable information. Instead, the cookie contains anonymous, non-personally identifiable categories of information which are derived as a result of a user’s registration through one of our registration partners.”
It’s not personally identifiable but, in their own words, “recognize users” when they return to sites! It’s anonymous, but includes user “registration” data via third parties! This is another example of why the FTC and the Congress has to reform privacy safeguards. The antiquated concept of what is considered personally identifiable has to brought into the 21st Century and the Obama Administration era.
My group the Center for Digital Democracy joins with our colleagues throughout the world to acknowledge International Privacy Day. The day is to help mark what is a growing debate about the role that data collection on citizens and consumers plays in our lives. Both governments and many corporations are harvesting a tremendous amount of information on us, to monitor our activities and influence our behavior.
But protecting our privacy is more than just data protection and the Big Brother/Sister-like surveillance system now available. It’s also about linking the use of data collection to the vast interactive marketing apparatus which is designed to help direct our thinking about products, brands, and ideas (including political leaders). Protecting privacy is just one part of the problem; the other half relates to ensuring protection for consumers. Interactive marketing has created a range of unfair, deceptive and potentially harmful practices across a broad range of product categories. These practices are fueled by the data collection, analysis and targeting system which has been put in place. So here’s to those who care about privacy; to those who also care about the public welfare; and to the public whose future will be affected by the outcomes of these debates and policies.