MySpace sells users’ personal info
p2pnet news | Advertising:- MySpace users are about to become targets —- advertising targets.
With Australian zillionaire Rupert Murdoch behind it, the site will let advertisers exploit MySpace users based on the “sometimes intensely personal information they make public on their MySpace Web pages.,” says Dow Jones, going on:
News Corp, MySpace’s owner, has been quietly testing the new advertising features since July, and said it has since signed up major advertisers from finance, electronics and other industries.
With the new targeting technology, MySpace says it is providing advertisers with an unprecedented level of detail about potential customers. The extra granularity will make ads much more effective and, as a result, help drum up more business.
By doing so, MySpace is also trying to get a leg up on Facebook, another social network that has evolved into a very tough competitor for advertising dollars now starting to flow into social networks.
“What we’re talking about is very new - the ability to make [marketing] decisions based on user interests,” MediaPost has Peter Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive Media, the News Corpse unit that owns MySpace, saying.
The story continues:
After more than six months of testing, MySpace is ready to implement its “interest targeting” technology on a broad scale, said Levinsohn, allowing brand advertisers to target consumers based on the information each shares with friends and family on a regular basis.
The algorithms designed by FIM’s “monetization technology group” initially separated MySpace members into 10 categories representing key interests–such as autos, fashion, finance, health, sports, and video games. Along with standout keywords, the algorithms determine ad placement based on a member’s groups, friends, age, gender, and prior ad engagement history.
The 100-employee team is now busy expanding the initiative into the “hyper targeting” phase by breaking the 10 main categories into hundreds of subcategories from which advertisers can choose.
Has anyone asked MySpace users if they mind Murdoch and his Merry Minions peddling their personal information?
Doesn’t look like it.
But why bother? After all, users are only the people who make the site so very lucrative —- for everyone but users.
Also See:
Dow Jones - MySpace Opens Up User’s Personal Info To Advertisers, September 18, 2007
MediaPost - MySpace Data-Driven Ad Plans Outlined, September 19, 2007
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September 19th, 2007 at 8:39 am
I imagine that soon MySpace users will be judged not only on the basis of their blog entries, but also by the coolness of the ads on their pages. Sort of like in this online comic: http://www.itgumbo.com/mumbogumbo/2007/09/myspace_to_target_ads_based_on.php
September 19th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
ROFL “Sort of like this online comic” as if you didn’t create that comic yourself. If you’re going to spam and pretend you’re not, at least remember not to use your real first name when you post your spammy links.
September 19th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
I don’t have a problem with targeted ads; why do I have to look at five hundred “lavalife” ads when I’m happily married? It’s just a waste of bandwidth. But targeted ads has to mean fewer ads, and the personal info has to stay on MySpace servers with only the category/subcategory going to the ad server.