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Consumer Groups Ask FTC to Block Targeted Advertising

Author: Atelier

28 Apr

data protection illustrationTwo consumer advocacy groups asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to provide enforceable regulations against behavioral advertising online to protect personal data on the internet.
 
The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the Consumers Union (CU) contend advertisers’ use of tracking Internet users’ activities online, from search engine inquiries to Web sites visited, in order to precisely advertise to users.
 
The two groups say the FTC is not doing enough to protect the personal data collected by these methods.
"The industry refuses to recognize the need to protect consumer privacy and the FTC has done nothing about the problem," said Mark Cooper, Director of Research at the Consumer Federation of America
 
The FTC has proposed self-regulation policies that would allow advertisers to enforce their own regulations on personal data as they see fit. The CFA and CU say that such regulations are not enough.
 
"Self-policing schemes are not enough to protect consumers’ privacy and offer no enforcement against improper behavior," said Chris Murray, senior counsel for Consumers Union.
 
The two groups propose a “Do Not Track” list similar to the “Do Not Call” list against telemarketers, whereby consumers can opt out of being tracked online by advertisers.
 
The American Advertising Federation and the Association of National Advertisers countered that no harm has come through the use of behavioral advertising, and until that happens there are no grounds to implement such laws.
 
They also argued that advertising subsidizes much of the free information on the internet.
 
Behavioral advertising is a quickly growing online industry, with the biggest move coming earlier this year via Google’s acquisition of Doubleclick, giving the company enormous power to specifically advertise to its search engine users.
 
As targeted advertising grows, so will concerns regarding personal data security, meaning the FTC will face similar arguments in the future.
 
By Danny Scuderi

 

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  • Filed under: Advertising and Marketing

    • Video 2.0 - Special Web 2.0 Expo

    Author: Atelier

    27 Apr

    seesmic demo

    The Video 2.0 & Online Communities session gave us a peak into the direction online video is going and three Web sites that are helping take it there.
     
    Seesmic.com, Playcafe and Ustream discussed the integration of on-demand and live video in the Web 2.0 world and the place advertisers have, as the Internet is quickly becoming a destination for traditional TV viewers.
     
    Seesmic is a videoblog Web site that enables users to create video conversations with friends on a social network. It creates a more personal connection that text-only comments (like those on Facebook and Myspace) do not offer.
     
    With one topic, a user’s video blog can elicit numerous responses within minutes, and we were lucky enough to witness this first-hand, as Seemic’s founder Loic Le Meur uploaded a greeting to his friends directly from his seat in the conference. In minutes, over 20 video responses from around the world were made, showing the popularity of on-demand video in social networking even in its infancy.
     
    Ustream enables live video streaming where users can gather in one place and experience shows, conversations, and various interactions in real time. Not only does it bring together groups of people from around the world, but in doing so it also provides a viable means of advertising.
     
    With television content rapidly making its way online, the Internet audience is primed for advertising being lost to on-demand television and Tivo. Pre-roll ads on such live streams can generate a lot of revenue for companies like Ustream.
     
    Playcafe combines both live streaming and on-demand for an online game show that can be played live at designated times or on-demand like traditional Internet trivia. It creates an interactive social experience to game shows that TV leaves out, and could signal a new way of broadcasting such shows both online and on TV.
     
    With on-demand and live video emerging in Web 2.0, look out for these three Web sites and others like them to help develop the Internet into a prime destination for videos.
     
    By Danny Scuderi

     

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  • Filed under: Events and Conferences

    • Guidelines for Fostering Innovation in any Business Environment

    Author: Atelier

    25 Apr

    creative designer teamAdaptive Path Strategy and design consultants conducted a workshop at the Web 2.0 Expo outlining ways to develop a creative and efficient work environment.
     
    Bryan Mason and Sarah Nelson, both from Adaptive Path, explored how stage managers, conductors, and screen writers build their work environments to be creative and efficient. Since technology is an emerging discipline that is constantly changing, it’s important to be innovative. So, how does a company stay on the forefront of innovation while focusing on business? Here’s what they learned from creative industries that work as a group, have hard deadlines, and need to constantly change up the creative process.
     
    “Cross-train your employees” on different roles within a team to establish greater empathy for other team members. The cross pollination of skills will broaden a team member’s overall skill make up. Ultimately, the team becomes stronger.
     
    “Rotate the creative leadership” to ensure a more dynamic team. Again, this will broaden skills and provide more opportunity for members to support each other. If need be, it’s easier to hand off certain points of a project, thereby improving project management.
     
    When it comes to creating new ideas and putting them into place, Mason and Wilson suggest “actively turning the corner.” In other words, quickly move from the divergent phase to the convergent phase.    It’s as important to collect the ideas as it is to effortlessly move to the phase deciding what has priority. Ideas will get implemented faster.
     
    “Know your roles.” At a certain point, a hierarchy needs to be established and this can be done through effective communication. Team members should know what their role is on a project so that they can provide the necessary support.
     
    “Practice as a team.” Practicing is not just about the self, but about how you work within a team, kind of like what any good sports team needs to succeed. When a team practices, a collective process forms and projects are managed better, especially under pressure. An entire team can suffer if even one member doesn’t know his or her part well.
     
    “Make your mission explicit.” Google, for instance, has a knowable mission statement: “to organize the world’s information.” Knowing your company’s creative mission will further new ideas. It’s important to be clear about what you’re doing and how you communicate it to others.
     
    “Kill your darlings softly.” Basically, this is a dependable and organized way of gently moving ideas out. If something doesn’t fit the mission, then push it aside and move on. Be affirmative without being negative.
     
    “Remember that leadership is a service.” Whoever is in charge needs to make sure the creative people can do their jobs. Leadership is the primary service position, the one that brings the group together.
     
    “Generate projects around creative interests.” Work from the bottom up rather than from the top down. Give employees projects that captivate and challenge them. Keeping staff engaged on an on-going basis will generate profitable ideas.
     
    “Remember your audience.” The experience is not just about you, it’s also about your client. Think of new ways to bring them a new experience. What can you do better or differently?
     
    Finally, “celebrate failure.” Failure can be a learning experience because taking risks inevitably leads to better ideas and a more solid vision.
     
    By Kathleen Clark

     

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  • Filed under: Events and Conferences

    • Blogging 101: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed

    Author: Atelier

    24 Apr

    ROI of an executive blogAt Web 2.0 Expo, Blogging experts from Tech Crunch, Venture Beat, and Omiru define what it means to be a successful blogger.
    Nick Gonzalez of Tech Crunch and Social Media; Eric Eldon of Venture Beat; and Trish Okubu of Omiru participated in an insightful blogging and social media branding workshop at the Web 2.0 Expo. The roughly two hour workshop covered the business of blogging and creating a personal brand through social media. Each panel member drew from personal experience to advise both the novice and expert blogger. No matter how long you’ve been blogging, there are a few tried and true methods for a successful blog: be passionate, have a community, provide valuable content, and make sure your message is reaching the right people.
    Passion is the most important element to any blog. Being passionate and an expert in something will be the driving force of your blog. Because most blogs are abandoned after the first month, having the personal drive and motivation will allow you to succeed where others fail. You’ll post often and your posts will create a story over time for your readers.
    Community allows a blogger to build their audience. Build your community wherever you go by talking about your blog. Once you start getting comments, make sure to moderate, but err on the side of openness. Have a dialog and engage with your readers; promote fans of your blog; maybe even give something away for free.
    Also, be a part of your community by interacting with other bloggers in your sphere of expertise. Link to their articles and they’ll link back to yours. Sometimes, you may even get a reference from the blogger. Even better, go to events and meet others in your community face to face. Write about the event.
    Good content will set you apart from other bloggers and entice people to link to your posts. First, you need a good headline, which is 75% of a post. Be “plausibly sensational” in your headlines, and don’t over promise or it could be considered spam. The content should say why the post is important and it should be interesting. Moreover, part of being a blogger is having a personality that shines through the posts.
    So, how do you find content? Blogs are of the moment; they are event driven. When something happens, write about it. It’s always good to refer to other resources to get news. A few resourceful news sites include Techmeme and Business Wire. Similar blogs and message boards are other great resources.
    The basic templates for any blog post are:
    • Small news announcement, which includes an intro, some facts, and an analysis.
    • Round ups have value in any kind of blogging community. An example is “Top XYZ.” These also lead to links on sites such as Digg or Reddit.
    • How to articles (just what is says).
    • Editorial. “You’re wrong and here’s why.” You should be controversial and say why. Often the toughest type of post.
    Finally, you need to consider how to distribute your content. One recommendation is Feedburner, a tool that allows you track how many people are reading your blog. Others sites to consider for content distribution are StumbleUpon, Yahoo! Buzz, AIDE RSS, FriendFeed, and Facebook.
    Nick Gonzalez noted the reason for the most successful blog post on Tech Crunch
    was distribution on Yahoo Buzz.
    If you’re passionate about something and want to engage with a community of others who share your passion, it’s easy to start a blog using any number of blog publishing software, such as wordpress, blogger, or typepad. Follow the basic rules above and you’re blog is bound to flourish.

    By Kathleen Clark

    Read more about the Web 2.0 Expo:
    • Consumer 2.0 - Special Web 2.0 Expo > read story
    • Web 2.0 Expo Confirms the Internet Trends for the Near Future > read story
    • Psychology of Web Sites – Special Web 2.0 Expo > read story

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  • Filed under: Events and Conferences

    • Psychology of Web Sites - Special Web 2.0 Expo

    Author: Atelier

    24 Apr

    web2expo speakerThe Web Site Psychology session provided much insight into the inner workings of the Internet and how it engages psychological responses in its users.
    The conference described the way in which Web site developers should design their sites in order to elicit the best responses out of their users by following the principles of human psychology.
    The most general principle to follow when designing a Web site is to take into account the users’ schema—the framework or model by which people see the world. People have certain schemas for certain websites. For example, a search engine user (Google or Yahoo) will expect to see a list of results following a search.
    When designing a Web site that has competition or predecessors, it is necessary to not drastically change these expectations. Schemas adapt over time, so gradual change is comfortable but drastic changes will drive users away. A good example was Flickr’s smooth integration of video onto their site, providing a change to the site but not one so different it would completely change the site.
    The second major point was to engage the user in flow—a feeling of contentment in the process of an activity. Myspace achieves this by enabling users to seamlessly browse pictures, profiles, and videos. Wikipedia does this by letting its users follow links for more information, providing a pleasant way to spend their time.
    Flow can be achieved by challenging them and/or sparking their curiosity. Facebook’s news feed gives information on a variety of friends but never is it the entire scope; only a few photos of a new album are displayed so the user clicks to see all of them.
    The ways in which we perceive the world directly affects our interaction with the Internet, so when building a Web site remember what makes you intrigued in real life and apply it to cyber life.
    By Danny Scuderi

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  • Filed under: Events and Conferences

    • Web 2.0 Expo Confirms the Internet Trends for the Near Future

    Author: Atelier

    24 Apr

    web2expoThe Web 2.0 Expo featured many innovations emerging for the Internet, but two trends were featured prominently.
     
    Corporate social networking and application development were featured regularly around the Expo, showing the direction in which Web 2.0 is taking the Internet.
     
    Corporate social networking is emerging as a way to connect people in the same workplace while avoiding the massive, public communities of Myspace and Facebook. It lets companies create their own social network in order to share ideas, documents, and comments about the company for which they work.
     
    One of the reasons for the rejection of large social networks is the discomfort it creates in employers who don’t want to share their personal lives with their co-workers. They provide a forum to share all things work related while keeping the private life private.
     
    Ideas and suggestions can be immediately read by those who make the decisions. It increases the speed at which suggestions are realized instead of having them traveling through the hierarchy of the corporate ladder until they reach the one in charge.
     
    Application development is becoming easier to learn and use, as companies are taking the coding out of the process by keeping it hidden and leaving simple features for users.
     
    Applications can be used for a variety of reasons, one of which being advertising. With Facebook open to applications, companies are developing applications to engage users into discovering more about the product or company.
     
    With the iPhone’s announcement that it is open to third-party developers, creating applications is emerging as a digital mobile technology, one of the big futures of the Internet.
     
    The Web 2.0 Expo displayed many innovations, but corporate social networking and application development were two trends to keep an eye out for.
     
    By Danny Scuderi

     

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  • Filed under: Events and Conferences

    • Consumer 2.0 - Special Web 2.0 Expo

    Author: Atelier

    24 Apr

    web 2.0 expo hallWith the innovation of Web 2.0 comes not only a new way to use the internet, but also a new online consumer.

    The Web 2.0 Expo conference describes the way in which consumers have adapted to the applications on Web 2.0, many times without even being aware of it.
     
    Web 2.0 has transformed the way users interact with the Internet, with consumers finding more and more applications that provide two-way interaction between themselves and the content they seek.
     
    It provides a “conversation” between the user and the product, and many times this conversation is the content the user speaks. For example, Mapquest is a Web 2.0 application whose function is to interact with the consumer in order to find driving directions to and from a particular place.
     
    “Conversation” applications are also being accessed in more places than before, as phones are becoming a more common place to use the Internet.
     
    Mobile digital content enables consumers to access the content they want from anywhere, which has transformed the consumer market. People can now research and purchase products from mobile phones, which in turn has transformed the way products are distributed.
     
    Fragmentation creates multiple distribution possibilities for companies and their products, enabling them to be sold on multiple platforms, from PCs to mobile phones.
     
    With fragmentation comes many opportunities to grab the consumer’s attention, but it also provides complexities in tracking whether marketing strategies work. It is difficult to tell whether search engine advertising influences a consumer’s decision outside of the internet, in the supermarket for example.
     
    The major innovations to look forward to are in mobile devices, as the technology is still emerging and companies are finding new ways to take advantage of it.
     
    These new innovations in Web 2.0 applications could mean another, new kind of interaction with consumers. Maybe a Web 3.0 is right around the corner.
     
    By Danny Scuderi

     

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  • Filed under: Events and Conferences

    • Disconnect from the Wired World (at least for one day)

    Author: Atelier

    23 Apr

    unplugged illustrationA new grass-roots effort encourages avid electronic and technology users to unplug and reconnect with the real world.
    Bloggers, IMers, Blackberry devotees, and Internet users around the world are temporarily turning off their phones, computers and televisions in an effort to get back to simpler living.
    Ariel Meadows Stallings is a Seattle author, blogger and part-time marketing manager for Microsoft as reported on MSNBC.com. In January, she resolved to unplug for 52 nights for the year of 2008 after realizing just how addicted she was the technology environment. Blogging about her experience spread the word to unplug while connecting her with a global population of technology users who text while driving or surf the Web while in bed.
    “I thought it was just a problem that affected me and my geeky colleagues. But then I started hearing from Italians with similar issues, and Poles and Czechs, and I even got a query from someone in Colombia,” explains Stallings as reported by MSNBC.
    “So I realize it’s not just an American problem but an international one.”
    Indeed, Canadian computer developers Denis Bystrove and Ashutosh Rajeka are coordinating a global “Shutdown Day” May 2 - an experiment to see how many people can shut down their computers for one day and what (if anything) will happen.
    And, even whole towns are supporting the unplugged cause. Just last month, the Needham Youth Commission sponsored a month long Needham Unplugged campaign urging residents to “unplug their electronics” and spend time with each other.
    So, are we too connected?
    Dr. Dave Greenfield, who operates the Center for Internet Behavior in Connecticut and wrote a book called “Virtual Addiction” believes unrestrained Internet use can be a problem.
    According to Dr. Greenfield, various studies conclude that between 1 and 10 percent of Americans use technology in a way that can negatively affect their lives, relationships, health or jobs.
    Not sure how addicted you are? Try unplugging for one day or even a whole weekend and see what happens.
    By Katlheen Clark

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  • Filed under: Technology Usage

    • The Internet Provides Medium for National Security Threat

    Author: Atelier

    23 Apr

    department of homeland security sealThe Internet is a growing hub of national security threats to the U.S., as hackers are finding more ways to infiltrate heavily protected computers to access sensitive information.
    According to an investigation by BusinessWeek, hackers are breaching networks through emails that look like legitimate correspondences between the U.S. government and defense contracting companies.
    The attacks target specific individuals who are known defense contractors with access to extremely sensitive data such as international weapons sales. They obtain the personal information, such as job title and responsibilities, through public information on company websites or through infected computers.
    With that knowledge, they send an email posing as a legitimate partner with the victim—the U.S. military, for example—and trick him/her into opening an email. Once opened, the email unleashes a new kind of malware known as RAT (remote administration tool).
    RAT enables the attacker to control the host computer in a variety of ways, including taking screen shots and browsing files, and then relaying that information back to the attacker.
    U.S. officials say that many of these attacks are government-sponsored, citing a Web site linked with several recent security breaches. The website is registered in China, and though the Chinese government denies the allegations, U.S. officials say the government’s strict control of the internet makes that unlikely.
    “The new breed of threat that has evolved is nation-state-sponsored stuff,” says Amit Yoran, a former director of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division.
    Sophistication makes detecting the viruses more and more difficult. Of 34 anti-virus software programs, only 11 detected a recent attack titled Poison Ivy when a test on behalf of BusinessWeek was conducted.
    Cyber security threats are rising (up 55% in military networks compared to last year), and without proper protection identity theft might be a small worry when it comes to lost data.
    By Danny Scuderi

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  • Filed under: Consumers & E-Commerce

    • Study Reveals Banks Receiving Praise for Web Sites

    Author: Atelier

    22 Apr

    happy online customerThe results of a financial services study shows online banking is succeeding with customers.
     
    ForeSee Results and Forbes.com partnered for the fourth time since 2003 to conduct the 2008 Online Financial Services Study. The study measures how well banks, credit card companies and investment services firms are using the Web to build loyalty, increase share of wallet, and take advantage of a cost-efficient way to do business with customers.
     
    Released on Tuesday, April 15, the study indicates that online banking customer satisfaction has soared over the past five years. Banks are successfully using the Web to provide customers the convenience of retrieving secure banking information with ease.
     
    ForeSee’s analysis uses the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The study recorded a score of 82 out of 100 for online banking, a 12 percent increase from a score of 73 in 2003. A score of 82 is just below the approval score of 83 for e-Retail, the top scoring category measured by the ACSI.
     
    During the first quarter of 2008, ForeSee and Forbes polled 1,600 respondents through an online survey.
     
    Key Findings from the 2008 Online Financial Services Study include:
     
    • Banks are using the Web better than both credit card companies and investment services firms to build loyalty and increase a share of wallet and encourage cost savings.
    • Highly satisfied online customers are more likely to buy more services, remain customers, use the Web site as a primary channel, and recommend the site and bank to others.
    • Overall, the Web provides opportunities for banks, credit card companies and investment services firms to improve features of their Web sites to encourage more satisfaction and loyalty.
     
    Banks have not been popular with customers since making it harder to get a mortgage loan, cutting savings interest rates, and curtailing home-equity and credit-card lines. However, they are meeting the demands of online customer needs and ensuring customers will return and purchase more services. Ultimately, the aforementioned data suggests banks should aim to make customer satisfaction an organizational priority.
     
    By Kathleen Clark

     

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  • Filed under: Technology Usage
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