It’s now been five years since we posted about the personalized search. Personally, now I love it, I just have to type in Queensbury and Google feeds me “Elementary School” as Google knows I frequent that site. Did we give up privacy? Yes. Are our lives open books to the search engines. Yes.
Did you know that sites are dropping “cookies” into your computers and they now can serve you ads based on where you’ve been. From an individual standpoint, this can be frightening and feel like a breech of trust.
From a marketers standpoint, this is a dream. Retargeting or remarketing to the visitor that came to your site to buy once they’ve left. It works and it’s cost effective. Yet so few companies take advantage of this advertising option.
Rather than fight the wave, sometimes it’s best to grab your surfboard and ride it. With opportunities to better target your audience based on their surfing habits, online advertising just got that much more efficient
Original Post – Posted on 9/15/2008:
Web Privacy and Personalized Search
I just read an article on the Google Blog talking about how it (and other search engines) hasn’t even touched upon it’s true capabilities, and how in the next ten years our lives will change exponentially based upon the new things discovered within the world of search. That’s great news! The article also talks about the revelation of social media and how the goal is to have search become more personal. What does this really mean? While this is great news for the average searcher – one can’t help but think, what about my privacy?
Between the Facebooks, MySpaces, LinkedIns and Twitters of the blogspheres – there is an outlet for everyone, both personally and professionally. Honestly, sometimes it’s hard to not get swept away with all that is out there. I catch myself saying to myself, What applications are legit, what really works, and what’s worth my time. At some point, with the advent of all these online journals, couldn’t this act of airing our laundry (clean or dirty) potentially be a disadvantage?
If these social media outlets are used inappropriately, you’re career could be on the line if you post compromising pictures, articles or blogs without realizing that others have full access to your personal space. Is the web a place to find information and to connect with like-thinkers, or does it offer innocent people a false sense of security?
With the pure sophistication of Google Images and search engines as a whole, our lives really may be an open book. It is truly exciting about the future of search – with the goal of becoming more mobile, visual and even personal! Knowledge really is at your fingers – use it to your advantage!
