Healthy Blog Reviews

Don’t think that just because Facebook has managed to not completely trample people’s privacy as of late that there is not more activity around the subject. In fact, forces in Washington, this time the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), are speaking at ‘hearings’ that are looking into this issue right now with talk of a “do not track” list. This is not the first time the subject has been raised (2007 it got some attention) but in light of recent online privacy ‘dust-ups’, this idea may have a real chance to develop. MediaPost reports The Federal Trade Commission is considering proposing a do-not-track mechanism that would allow consumers to easily opt out of all behavioral targeting, chairman Jon Leibowitz told lawmakers on Tuesday. Testifying at a hearing about online privacy, Leibowitz said the FTC is exploring the feasibility of a browser plug-in that would store users’ targeting preferences. He added that either the FTC or a private group could run the system. I have to admit that “do not call” list for telemarketers has made life better for me at least, although I am seeing more and more attempts to ‘get around’ that mechanism as of late. I am not sure what would happen as a result of a “do not track” list but many consumers may find it interesting just because of their experience with its offline cousin. This is not the kind of talk that the advertising industry wants to hear though, so expect a fight especially if the oversight of any kind of list is left up to the FTC. In fact, the advertising industry is starting to show plenty of signs of the need to ‘self-police’ to keep these kinds of talks and options out of the public forum. The FTC chairman also noted that he was in favor of an opt-in mentality rather than the existing opt-out and that idea has considerable support from others in power. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) both expressed concern that privacy policies weren’t giving Web users enough useful information about online ad practices. Rockefeller proposed that some companies were burying too much information in lengthy documents that consumers don’t read. “Some would say the fine print is there and it’s not our fault you didn’t read it,” he said, adding, “I say, that’s a 19th-century mentality.” Kerry added that he didn’t know that consumers understood how companies use data. “I’m not sure that there’s knowledge in the caveat emptor component of this,” he said. Wow, Sen. Rockefeller just tossed the advertising business so far into the past regarding their practices that the 20th century was ignored. I guess he made his point. So where do you stand on the possibility of a “do not track” list? Is this something that could hurt the online advertising industry or is it just a way for politicians to say that they are doing something about online privacy?

Tags: advertising, either-the-ftc, experience, facebook, feasibility, federal-trade, hurt-the-online, online, oversight, possibility, subject, the-advertising, the-possibility, time
Posted July 28, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

I’m at the bank depositing money. That’s a real tweet I saw this week and it was followed by a Foursquare link showing the exact bank. According to new research by Forrester, that tweeter was probably a young adult male with a college degree and he’s one of only 1% of online users who actually do this kind of thing. From my experience, it seems that half the people I follow on Twitter use location-based tweets, but the data says that only 4% of online adults have even tried geolocation and only 1% uses it on regular basis. Really? The study also says that 70% of the users are between 19 and 35 and 80% are male. Again, not my experience, so apparently I have unusual friends. The good news for marketers is that though the group is small, they’re powerful. Melissa Parish of Forrester wrote on her blog: “Our research shows that these users are typically young, male, well-educated, and influential.  In fact, LBSN users are users are 38% more likely than the average US online adult to say that friends and family ask their opinions before making a purchase decision.” So the question becomes, how much of your time and money should be spent marketing to this group? Parrish says very little. “Though many LBSNs are gathering steam, the landscape is fragmented and the programs can’t scale just yet. But with large companies preparing to enter the market (I’m looking at you Facebook and Yahoo!) the time for marketers to get involved is coming.” That is unless you’re marketing a product of interest to college-educated male trendsetters under 35. In that case, it’s time to start working on that Foursquare Mayor of Marketingville badge.

Tags: data, experience, facebook, Forrester, group, half-the-people, landscape, Local/Mobile, marketingville, Melissa Parish, people, Research, time, Yahoo
Posted July 27, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Although it comes as no surprise to most, the integration of e-mail campaigns and social media outlets is becoming more popular. Leading the charge are Facebook and Twitter which is probably no surprise either. What is a little surprising is just how quickly the numbers dive with regard to other options for social media integration. The following chart from eROI shows results from a survey they recently conducted (hat tip to MarketingProfs ). With Facebook being the most mainstream option of these outlets its appearance at the top of the list is almost expected. Twitter on the other hand is much more dependent on the type of e-mail recipient because it’s mass appeal is much less than Facebook’s at this time. In other words, Twitter likely skews toward a tech-savvy and generally younger crowd while Facebook hits a more widespread demographic target. What was interesting was the relative ignorance of the mobile market by these very same marketers. There seems to be confusion on subjects ranging from mobile’s usage amongst these companies’ customers to even how the company itself is utilizing the mobile web for their site in general and marketing as a whole. This points to the whole disconnect issue that happens when industry reporting and predictions leave reality in the dust. Why do you think it has been the “Year of Mobile” for about 7 years now? OK, so let’s step back for a second. If e-mail is very important and it is a pretty well known fact that there is a large group of consumers that get e-mail on mobile devices (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and more) shouldn’t marketers be a little more ‘in tune’ with mobile? If you pay attention to most industry reports they already are right? Is there a perception vs. reality divide present here? Is it possible that hype is out-pacing implementation? How can that happen on the Internet ? As we have warned in the past, it is probably a good thing for companies to make sure they are doing the Internet marketing basics like search and e-mail well before they jet ahead into the mobile space. It’s this rush to get to the next best thing without ever really taking full advantage of the LAST next best thing that gets businesses in trouble online. So where are you with e-mail, social and mobile? Are all three humming on all cylinders or is there work to be done to bring one or more up to speed? Even when the assumption is that everyone does all of this well and is ready to move on, are you going to stick to the basics or go to the next big thing?

Tags: black, cloud-computing, cloud-hosting, facebook, integration, internet, Internet Marketing, mobile, mobile-chart, numbers, Social, Social Media, time
Posted July 26, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Google has a real buddy in the airline industry with Virgin America. During last year’s holiday travel season Google offered free WiFi on all Virgin America flights . Now, Google and Virgin have expanded the in-flight maps offered to travelers as they can now get topographic information about where they are and more. Google’s LatLong blog tells more ….as a part of our continued partnership with Virgin America, we’ve completely updated the Google Maps data on the touchscreens of every airplane seat. As before, the map shows you almost exactly where you are, and you can zoom and pan to explore. Now, with our beautiful terrain view and fresh Google data, the maps are not only prettier, but also highlight mountains, elevation and other natural features. In other words, it more closely matches what you’d actually see if you had cloud-penetrating eyesight and looked out the window from 35,000 feet. I’m all for anything that passes the time on a long flight. Of course, having never flown Virgin America I can only imagine that this would keep my ADD at rest for a few minutes. The real point here is that Google is expanding far beyond the confines of search in an effort to become less reliant on their search ad business. They have a long way to go for sure since search is a disproportionate percentage of revenue but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Google, of course, is helping Virgin who is expanding its fleet by 60 planes (making Airbus very happy). How? It just so happens that they announced these plans and improvements on the very same day. Gee, what a coincidence! So Google and Virgin America are buddies. I wonder if there is room for other airline relationships for Google? After all, the people on those planes are firing up their smartphones as soon as they land to figure out what’s next. You think Google is interested in being top of mind at that point in time? Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community

Tags: airline, marketing, passes-the-time, people, Search, time, touchscreens, Virgin, words
Posted July 23, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

There are few areas of any ‘traditional’ communications outlets anymore that are just that outlet alone these days. In fact, finding a standalone product that doesn’t integrate with your Facebook account, for instance, is becoming more rare. Now you can add Microsoft’s Outlook to that list as Facebook integration is complete and being rolled out according to Mashable Microsoft is announcing today that it has integrated Facebook and Windows Live Messenger into Outlook, bringing the streams of millions of Facebook users into inboxes across the world. Last year, Microsoft launched Outlook Social Connector, a plugin that syncs social networking feeds with your Outlook contacts, giving you immediate data on what they are doing and thinking. It started last year with LinkedIn integration, but soon the company announced MySpace and Facebook were coming. Today, Outlook completes the cycle with not only Facebook integration, but support for Windows Live Messenger as well. Not only that, but the company is releasing the plugin for Outlook 2003 and 2007 users as well, bringing Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Windows Live Messenger to millions of business and personal inboxes worldwide. As with anything that has layers of information it is best to see the video version of the explanation be sure to check it out over at the Mashable site. Here is a look at a screen shot as well. Here’s my take. I don’t use Microsoft Outlook anymore so obviously this is not directly impacting me. I did use it in the past, however, and there’s reason to think that there could be another time in the future. Having said that I am pretty ambivalent on the whole e-mail and social integration craze. Google has tried it and it’s not going so well. That doesn’t mean this won’t work but at what point is enough enough? E-mail for me is more of a business function than it is a social one. Of course, the idea of having more information about who you are e-mailing could produce something of use but fighting through the clutter to find it takes time that I may not want to give during the day. Also, what if you are just beginning a business relationship with someone and they simply share too much in their social world and you get a serious case of TMI (too much information)? As with all of these social interactions there is a double-edged sword effect that can do great good and /or great harm all at once. So while there is potential here I think, like anything else, it will come down to personal preferences. What do you think?

Tags: explanation, facebook, find-it-takes, messenger, Microsoft, plugin, Social, time, windows
Posted July 13, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media