With all of the concern regarding online privacy and tracking, it is important to take into account the differing views and opinions involved.  There are some who simply want more information provided to them about how they are being tracked online, and to have more control over how the information gathered about them is utilized.

The current data practices of Internet companies are not cohesive with the expectations of their customers, thus creating a rift between the parties.  It is common for Internet companies to collect information about their users, and also to divulge what other sites were visited by the user in a growing of marketers to appeal to an increasingly receptive audience based on tracking their interests, age, gender and habits. This practice is referred to as behavioral targeted advertising.

Under much debate is the practice of Ghostery, wherein companies use browser plug-ins that detect cookies, web beacons, and other third party attempts to collect information from users and store it, often without their knowledge.  Studies are still going back and forth with accusations, but what remains the most amazing is the often overlooked fact that online marketing is evolving into a futuristic and accurate being, and is developing the ability to single out their target audience, a way to save the time and effort of both marketers and users.  It seems that once the etiquette of personal information storage and usage is clearly defined, the process will become quite the norm.  Relayed by Deep Blue Interactive, South Florida web development and online marketing agency.

It has been a difficult time as of late for many companies, Microsoft and Yahoo included.  It is reported that the two online entities have resumed talks regarding a wide-ranging advertising partnership.  Talks of an outright merger or sale of Yahoo’s search business to Microsoft have not resumed thus far.

Investors have long been chattering over the business possibilities between Microsoft and Yahoo.  Market results Tuesday after close show that Yahoo’s troubles are not yet past, as they are down from a year ago.  Ears are perked for further development details that could spell progress in the near future.

Investors have been honing in on various key points to form predictions, including a new round of potential layoffs, which are rumored to cut several hundred positions in addition to the 2,400 jobs cut last year.  Another measure Yahoo has undertaken in attempts to recover is to attempt to sell some of its properties, including HotJobs.

Expected net revenue analysts expect Yahoo to report are approximately $1.2 billion, down from last year’s $1.35 billion.  On the upside for online business, Google has enjoyed a 10 percent net revenue rise this year.  Updated by Deep Blue Interactive, your SEO web design and interactive marketing firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Yelp is a website with the slogan, “Real People. Real Reviews”.  Users of Yelp are free to post reviews of local businesses such as restaurants, nightclubs and more, a useful resource developed with the customer in mind-think TripAdvisor.

In a surprising move, Yelp is scheduled to begin allowing small business owners to publicly respond to posted reviews next week.  Previously, the site stringently adhered to its preference to limit business access to the pages.

Yelp is attempting to appease both sides, which is a delicate balance.  On the trapeze that is marketing, it is important to alleviate skepticism in favor of neutrality.  While the voices of businesses were previously muted, it has become an issue that both sides were not being heard.  For the most part businesses appreciate reviews and can gain from them a chance to improve and grow. Competition can lead some businesses to behave poorly and post negative reviews of their competitors, a practice that Yelp frowns on.

Users are not supposed to use the comment section to make attacks on competitors or to advertise, and while Yelp does not screen comments prior to publish, users are able to flag inappropriate material and comments for review by the customer service team.  Brought to you by Deep Blue Interactive, your Fort Lauderdale web design and SEO firm.

Facebook seems to have been going through a stealthy re-branding over the past months, steadily changing features, incorporating behavioral targeted advertising, attempting to alter the user agreement policy and many other details.

All of these changes have left many wondering where the old Facebook went, while becoming increasingly frustrated with a constant stream of changes and redesigns.  It is popular opinion that the new homepage has become less personal and informative, and less attractive to users and developers of applications.
There does seem to be someone benefiting from the Facebook changes, and that would be Brands. 

Facebook Pages are a competitive play against Twitter reviews, only revamped and more social, and their updates are taking up space on member homepages where data shows increased traffic and brand interaction. 

The incentive to buy ads on Facebook is higher now because each “Fan” a company gains can be marketed to free of cost, via the Facebook homepage feed.  This is where Facebook’s redesigns begin to make complete business sense-even if it is a fee of $5-10 to acquire a Fan, it is a relatively small price to pay for lifetime access to engage that Fan.  PPC ads range from roughly 50 cents for pages, assuming an impressive 5-10 percent conversion rate.  Brought to you by Deep Blue Interactive, your Fort Lauderdale Internet conversion and interactive web design firm.

Behavioral targeted advertising has begun-and as most issues that revolve around privacy tend to be, it is generating controversy.  Those in favor recognize the value of the ability to reach your target audience without the need to funnel funds into an abyss hoping for a bite and those opposed cite privacy violations.

Behavioral targeting technologies work by anonymously monitoring and tracking content viewed and websites visited by a specified unique user or IP. This is accomplished by serving tracking codes, which are implemented as cookies, on a user’s computer as they are served ads from various online advertising networks.

Websites visited, content viewed, and length of visit are then databased and analyzed to predict an online behavioral pattern, creating an online demographic for that user. Behavioral targeted ad networks then serve targeted advertising relevant to that user’s behavioral classification, regardless of where they then visit.  This gives marketers a clear advantage, taking marketing to a new and interactive level.

Delving further into the subject, while it is of course important to allow users the opportunity to opt out of participating, it is equally important to analyze the benefits derived from those who opt to participate in behavioral targeted advertising.  Behavioral targeted advertising benefits the participant as well as the marketer.  An example would be a participant looking for a new car would receive ads related to that search.  Brought to you by Deep Blue Interactive, your Fort Lauderdale SEO marketing and web design firm.