Photo by serafin_s

The Center for Democracy and Technology reports that consumers don’t like it when advertisers track online behavior to tailor ads and content, according to a recent study by Harris Interactive and Alan F. Westin:

The 2,513 adults surveyed were told that Web sites like Google, Yahoo!, and MSN can provide free search engines and email accounts because they profit from online advertising. When asked how comfortable they would be with these sites using information about their online activities to tailor ads and content to their interests, 59% of survey respondents said they would not be comfortable, while 41% said they would be comfortable.

So, is tracking an ethical business practice? I personally don’t mind it. I’m a consumer with needs and problems to be solved. If a company can cut through the junk and tailor ads specific to my needs, then maybe it’s okay as long as I’m interested. Still, this is an ongoing ethical dilemma and most consumers aren’t even aware they are being tracked.

Consumer (Dis)Comfort With Online Tracking [CDT]

Yes. And measurable too…

B.L. Ochman’s weblog: Internet marketing strategy, social media trends, news and commentary.: How Much Does a Social Media Marketing Campaign Cost?

Speaks for itself.

Crazy Image: Come closer

I am sick and tired of people saying “this is about free speech and Don Imus has the same rights as any other American” etc. WRONG. It’s about money. Once the advertisers leave, you are toast.

David Carr wrote a great piece in The New York Times yesterday with his list of reasons why it was inevitable that Imus would be fired. And I couldn’t agree more:

OLD MEETS NEW Mr. Imus is an old-school radio guy caught in a very modern media paradigm. When he started 30 years ago, if he made the same kind of remark, it would have floated off into the ether — the Federal Communications Commission, if it received complaints, might have taken notice, but few others.

But radio is now visible — Mr. Imus’s show was simulcast on MSNBC, and more to the point, it is downloadable. By Friday, reporters and advocates could click up the remark on the Media Matters for America Web site, and later YouTube, and see a vicious racial insult that delighted him visibly as it rolled off his tongue. The ether now has a memory.

The media equation: Flying solo past the point of no return [The New York Times]