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Last week I wrote about the heated reactions that followed the announcement of Visa and MasterCard’s potential plans to sell their purchase information data to advertisers. I argued that the outrage was based on misinformed notions of data use, fed by the various media stories that have been cropping up at regular intervals to put further fear into the privacy brigade. In this blog, I’ll be focusing on explaining how we at plista GmbH use data, and outlining the various initiatives that are being developed to ensure that there is better understanding between advertisers and consumers.

Data has caused a lot of debate not only in the media, but also within the online advertising industry itself; only the other week, AdExchanger.com asked a selection of ad technology execs to answer the question ‘Why is tracking good?’, which made for interesting reading. The arguments were that as ads keep content free, they’re unavoidable, and that targeted, relevant ads are better than random, irrelevant ads. By using data for behavioral advertising, online advertisers can add value to the user’s experience, serving them ads that are personalized and contextual.

It all sound fairly straightforward, except that of course it isn’t. Data has become an increasingly maligned term, with connotations of invasions of privacy and misuse of personal information. To defend and reclaim the word, we need to dispel the fears and misconceptions by explaining how we in the online advertising industry (the so-called ‘cyberazzi’) use data for behavioral targeting, and outline the benefits that are in it for the consumer.

At plista, our algorithms do not use private, personal information, not only because of data protection laws (though that’s a given), but also because it’s not relevant for our RecommendationAds. Instead, we use interest-based filtering, based on what past users who also visited the current page have read. Other anonymous data vectors also come into play, such as the publisher’s website, geolocation, demographics, the time and so on, all focused on the best content on the publisher’s website. A combination of these vectors then leads to the content recommendations the user sees.

This process allows for each visitor to have his or her own set of personalized recommendations, such as other content or articles related to what the user is currently reading, which comes in the plista “you might also find this interesting…” format. At plista, data is used for the benefit of everyone involved: combining ads with individual user recommendations means more revenue for advertisers and publishers (average CTR is over 7%), and a better, more informative browsing experience for the user.

Once the fears about invasion of privacy and misuse of personal details have been cleared away, the issue is no longer with data, as such: instead, it’s about control. A recent study by McCann showed that over half of consumers want to know and have a say in how their data will be used. If people don’t feel in control of their data and online experience, they will react with fear and outrage, as has been witnessed over and over. The same study also showed that 71% of consumers were willing to trade shopping data if they were compensated for it in one way or another (such as through discounts or promotions), with 86% saying they could see major benefits from sharing data with online companies.

More efforts are now being made to enable understanding of how data is used, and to set in place regulations for the online advertising industry. At plista we offer an OptOut as a matter of course, and have even produced a short film to further illustrate what we do, but industry-wide still more needs to be done to explain data tracking, and to make the opt-out mechanisms clearer. A recent US academic study showed that the current OBA (Online Behavioral Advertising) opt-out mechanisms were ‘fundamentally flawed’, often leading to more confusion than clarity for the consumer. Steps to improve are being taken: Google has increased ad transparency for consumers, and just last week, OBA self-regulatory compliance platform TRUSTed Ads announced it had gained customer contracts with several key brands for its solution, which is designed to clearly educate consumers about privacy practices.

Various self-regulatory programs are also in place, such as the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and the US and UK in particular are enforcing regulations on tracking and data use. The US Federal Trade Commission presented its online privacy framework in October, promoting industry self-regulation, transparency, and Do Not Track functionalities, and in the UK, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) require companies to gain consent before collecting user data.

These are all encouraging steps in the right direction, and it will be interesting to see how the media and the anti-data tracking brigade respond to the measures set in place to further enlightenment and understanding, rather than fear and misinformation. It seems that the key to good online advertising and a happy browsing experience is more transparency and control for the user. As long as the opt-out option is clear, and everyone is informed of the processes involved with behavioral targeting and data use, people will be willing to subscribe and give information to the companies or brands they want to hear from. And the more information the marketers have, the better tailored, and better overall, the advertising will be.

Find out more about what we do: watch the short plista GmbH film

In the last few weeks, the Orwellian-named new social media network ‘Unthink’ has tried hard to stir up interest as a real contender to the Facebook social media throne. The reason for Unthink’s brassy attitude in stepping into the ring with Facebook (and Google+) is that it’s confident in its punch: namely, the promise that it will not mishandle its users’ data. Unthink users- or ‘owners’, as CEO Natasha Dedis prefers to call them- will have control of their own data, which Unthink won’t sell on to advertisers. The idea is a clever one, especially in light of Facebook’s various recent data tracking misdemeanors, and the continuing data-tracking scaremongering stories in the media.

So far, online commentators have been fairly unimpressed- especially as the website was unreachable for part of the time of the potential buzz-build up. The video used to promote the social network, seemingly aimed at teenagers, is also not doing them too many favors. Rather unfortunately for Unthink, it reminded me of a spoof video poking fun at Google+ which did a much better job of hitting the current mood in promoting its (albeit fictional) new social network, ‘Not Google+’ .

What strives to be a call to action to rebel against the ‘data oppressors’ (Facebook, mainly, though Google+ gets a part in the clip as well) ends up feeling like a misguided and slightly creepy attempt to be part of the gang. Or, as AllThingsD put it: “the tone is not unlike someone ranting in a town square to try to attract followers to some new religious sect”. This attempt to stir up a social media teenage rebellion is reinforced by a strapline on the Unthink website proclaiming “We don’t need another social network. We need a social revolution”.

Though it’s easy to make fun (especially as, unthinkingly, Unthink chose to call themselves a non-word that had previously been used in a badly-received KFC campaign in 2009) , the spirit with which its founders have created Unthink- the cornerstones being ownership, privacy, security from unilateral term changes- is highly poignant in today’s data-fraught climate. Data is becoming increasingly important not least as a privacy issue for social networkers, but also as a crucial part of the development and use of online advertising, with data-informed behavioral targeting and re-targeting ever more common.

However, instead of turning its back on the benefits of using data for advertising- as Unthink is doing- and thereby stoking the fire of fear and ‘big brother’ element of online advertising, it would make more sense to focus on lifting the veil of misunderstanding between advertisers and consumers. As a recent Ad Age article stated, if the use of data, as well as the mechanics and benefits of tracking and behavioral targeting were better explained to consumers, they would not be as opposed to it. There needs to be clearer communication in order to better inform the online world. As the author of the Ad Age article rightly points out, the advertising industry has “even made ‘cookie’ sound like a bad word”- I believe everyone will agree that that’s not a good state of affairs.

At plista, our RecommendationAds use algorithms which analyze data from online users as they are browsing, tailoring the website content to the interests indicated and recommending other content the user might also like. These user-individual recommendations, put together through precise interest-based information, reduces the search effort of the browsing experience, bringing what the online user is potentially looking for or interested in right to their screen.

One can’t stop the web and all it entails, from social networks to online advertising, from evolving.

After all, even though Unthink may not sell its users’ data onto advertisers, advertisements are still present on the social networking site in the form of ‘iEnforce’. The idea behind this is that the user selects a brand to ‘sponsor’ their page- the only way to avoid ads completely is to pay. Call me selfish, but I would rather have the best of both worlds: free content, and ads tailored to what I am interested in, recommending new content that I perhaps would have missed were it not for those data-tracking algorithms. I’d say it’s time to ‘unthink’ what we think we know about data.

Find out more about what plista GmbH offers: http://www.plista.com/

Am vergangenen Freitag war es endlich wieder soweit. Bei einem nächtlichen Bummel durch einige deutsche und internationale Großstädte ließen sich die verschiedensten Menschen beim Wildcampen beobachten. Statt dem Motto „Back to the roots“ war jedoch technischer Fortschritt und totale Vernetzung der alle verbindende Faktor. Statt die Zelte an einem See aufzuschlagen, wurden die Stühle mit dicken Decken vor den Apple-Stores dieser Welt postiert. Richtig, der Verkaufsstart des iPhone 4S war gekommen. Und mit ihm die Apple-Enthusiasten. Neben einigen kleineren Verbesserungen hat das iPhone 4S vor allem Siri an Bord.

Als Tim Cook während der letzten Keynote die Bühne betrat, um das iPhone 4S zu präsentieren, fragte er Siri, ob er morgen einen Regenmantel brauchen würde. Daraufhin ermittelte Siri das morgige Wetter für den entsprechenden Standort und gab zur Antwort, dass er keinen bräuchte, da morgen die Sonne scheine. Eine intelligente Sprachsteuerung also, die Fragen verstehen und damit die Bedienung des Geräts noch intuitiver und automatisierter ablaufen lassen soll. Da musste ich an einen Post vom August letzten Jahres zum Thema Semantisches Web denken. Auf den ersten Blick scheint Apple mit Siri nämlich einen großen Schritt in diese Richtung zu machen. Zeit also, einige Gedanken zu dem Thema noch mal aufzugreifen und auf Siri bezogen weiterzuspinnen.
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Letzte Woche war plista auf der dmexco in Köln, der größten internationalen Leitmesse und Kongress für die digitale Wirtschaft, mit einem starken Team vertreten.

Neben 400 weiteren Vertretern der Marketing, Media- und Kreativ-Branche aus aller Welt, haben wir uns zum ersten Mal mit eigenem großen Stand präsentiert und zogen so, mit einem gut gelaunten, motivierten Team und Informationen über unsere innovativen Werbeformate, die Produktneuheiten Mobile RecommendationAds sowie Slide RecommendationAds, unzählige Besucher an.
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Nachdem wir bereits vor einiger Zeit die journalistische Professionalität der Blogosphäre unter die Lupe genommen haben, wollen wir heute einmal über finanzielle und werbetechnische Aspekte von Weblogs sprechen. Viele der heutigen Weblogs haben mit den Online-Tagebüchern, als die sie ihren Anfang nahmen, nicht mehr viel gemeinsam. Man schreibt zwar oft noch um des Schreibens Willen, um Teil einer Community zu sein, ist aber bereits wesentlich an der Meinung anderer zu den eigenen Gedanken interessiert. Das Tagebuch ist damit vom intimen Freund zur öffentlichen Plattform geworden und die Partizipation wird anderen nicht durch ein kleines Metallschlösschen verwehrt, sondern ist hochgradig in Form von Kommentaren und Linksharing gewünscht. Zu den privaten Blogs gesellen sich Unternehmensblogs sowie kommerzielle Angebote, die gezielt als Nachrichtenangebote designed sind und von Medienprofis erstellt und verwaltet werden. Meinungsführerblogs verwehren sich der Kategorisierung von privat und kommerziell, da sie sich vor allem nach Qualität, Reichweite, aber auch inviduell angesprochenem Leserkreis und Nischenthema richten.

Oft genug werden solche zu Meinungsführerblogs gewordenen Angebote von einem mehr oder weniger anonymen Autorenkollektiv verfasst, das nur selten davon leben kann. Gerade weil viele Blogs selten hauptberuflich betrieben werden, aufgrund ihrer Qualität und Aktualität aber genau den Eindruck hauptberuflicher Tätigkeit vermitteln, soll hier einmal über die gegenwärtige Situation und Potentiale zur Finanzierung gesprochen werden.
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