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Privacy Online: Possible?

This post was inspired by an article entitled Social Media Privacy is an Oxymoron. It sparked some thoughts for me around how one can achieve at least *some* privacy online; assuming this is important to you because for a surprising number of people, it isn’t.

First off – Facebook.  Many informative posts have been written about controlling your privacy or removing yourself from Facebook altogether.   Some high-profile Facebook users are taking a stand against recent changes on Facebook affecting privacy. And you may have heard by now that “Quit Facebook Day” is scheduled for May 31, 2010. Before you quit, you may want to first determine what amount of your private info on Facebook is exposed. This application, as well as this one can help you do that.

But while all the attention and heat is on Facebook, what about everything else? Among, what is undoubtedly, a myriad of vulnerabilities on the big old web, here are just a few ideas that may help you stay a little more private.

To prevent the tracking of my every click, I like to use CoolPreviews. This is a tool that allows me to see what’s behind a link without having to click on it. I like to use this a lot when logged into LinkedIn or Twitter, as the tracking of where and what you click can be scrutinized. For example, if you notice a tweet was posted via Hootsuite, and the link provided is an OWLY link, your click will be counted. Not a huge deal perhaps as your click, in this case anyway, is in no way connected to your account. (At least, not that I’m aware of.)  On LinkedIn however, if you are logged in and you check out someone’s profile, your “click” as it were, *is* linked to your profile. This enables this cool-but -creepy feature:

There is a long list of ways to add more privacy to your browsing habits. Many browsers like Safari and Firefox now offer ‘Private Browsing‘ ensuring you that no website you open will be kept on record. Anywhere. There are also many types of ‘scramblers’ you can use that mask your IP address. These are called proxy servers. This can help prevent data collection on where you are in this universe, what browser you’re using, what kind of computer you’re using, among other things. Want to know what your IP reveals about you? Go here.

Google Analytics and Quantcast, as two examples, are now offering “opt out” options. Google Analytics, for one, is allowing people to opt out of being monitored for receiving targeted ads.
Quantcast, an American based service that measures audience statistics for websites, is offering something similar.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for ways of preserving privacy online. The questions I have are:

Is it too little too late?

Is it time to redefine what online privacy means?

Should we care this much? Everyone is up in arms over the privacy principle, but is the privacy practice (the way our private info is being used) really that offensive and/or scary?

I’d love to hear what you think.

Tags: advertising, facebook, Google Analytics, LinkedIn, opt out, privacy, proxy servers, Quantcast, Twitter

Location Based Advertising-Shaking The Ground We Walk On?

Location Based Advertising

Recently, I attended the DigiBC and Wavefront AC session, “Location is Key to Mobile Marketing Success.” The industry is a abuzz about Location Based Advertising and as session moderator Sandy Fleischer (Fjord) observed, “LBA was the only game in town at SXSW.”

For good reason.  After 50 years of brands bombarding us with advertising we may or may not care about, the concept of receiving value rich “smart ads” for products and services located close to where you are standing or embedded in GPS maps is beyond exciting.

It’s also got me wondering.

What if advertisers and platform creators, punch drunk with new LBA business models, spam the heck out of our devices? If I am walking along the street and suddenly 15 text messages soar on to my iPhone, those Ginsu Knife ads might start to look good. Too obvious? Will never happen? I wonder.

Maybe it’s not 15 ads. 2 or 3 may be enough to rankle. I appreciate that certain ads may be triggered by my action, rather than simply by my location. And in theory, I like the idea of receiving information and special offers tailored to my buying habits. Embedding these ads on my GPS device feels okay, perhaps even desirable.  However, my phone is an intensely personal portal for everything from family photos to business and intimate communications. My tolerance is low for anyone who trespasses there.

I’m also curious to see how location based advertising impacts traditional advertising. Look how user generated content has altered the way some brands, large and small, shoot their television spots. Will national TV/radio/print ads with little if any regional customization feel irrelevant? Or will those broad reach ads be the wide end of a sales funnel that ends with high context, individualized LBA? Will media buyers buy differently, slicing and dicing national campaigns in response to the demands of hyper location-centric consumers? Will the production process involve more versioning than ever so brands can target ads to consumers in tighter categories, more clearly defined locations?

What do you think?
Do you think those positioned to benefit from location based advertising revenue will spoil the party by spamming consumers with ads?  Will LBA alter traditional media?

The ground is shifting and no matter where you are standing, it’s exciting to watch!

Best,
Moyra

Tags: ads, advertising, LBA, location based advertising, media

Marketing? No Thanks.

by Flickr member Petrov Escarião

This is a story of the power of word of mouth…online.

Anyone from the Canadian Prairies will tell you there isn’t a lot of motivation for spending top dollar on a raincoat. It does rain in the Prairies, and hard, but compared to the West Coast, it’s infrequent enough that you’d be fine with a big ugly *cheap* poncho that you can replace every few years. A winter coat on the other hand, you buy wisely and spend freely if it keeps you warm (and alive!) at minus 48 with a windchill.

When I moved to Vancouver in 2001, I still had this mindset. I continued to acquire cheap raincoats, wimpy umbrellas – and fabulously warm winter coats.

Believe it or not, it has taken me 9 years to resist the urge to purchase an expensive winter coat. It was time to instead use the money to buy a quality raincoat.

I wanted something stylish, not sporty. I started my quest, not by hitting the stores, not by Googling, but by direct messaging some fashion-forward friends on Twitter for advice.

Within minutes I had several options. Within a week I purchased THE BEST raincoat I have ever had or even seen from a little bustling store on Alberni Street. It was expensive but when it pours I am covered – literally. And judging by the quality and versatility of the coat, I will have it for years to come.

What’s interesting about this line of outerwear is it has never marketed its products in a traditional way (newspaper ads, magazine ads, TV commercials, etc..). That is to say, according to the folks in the Vancouver store, and my friend who recommended them to me, m0851 didn’t feel traditional marketing was worth the money. Online marketing appears to be another story as they have a Facebook Page, a blog, and a website.

What this speaks to, in my opinion, is a belief that if you sell quality, people will notice and then talk – and that is the most powerful advertising of all. Add to that the steroid effect of talking online.

m0851 has 7 stores on 3 continents. I think the word is getting out.

Erin Garrity
Sr Web Producer

Tags: advertising, facebook, marketing, Vancouver