wrote:
> There is much of what you said that I agree with, especially the sections
> about the futility of banning, and the need to educate students and faculty
> on how to use these tools effectively.
>
> However...The continued existence of Facebook, MySpace, WebKinz are
> *predicated* on the need to gather specific user data to allow them to
> create more targeted ads. The old-school media examples you cite can all be
> read anonymously, ie, without an individual login (as most of the examples I
> have seen require a school-wide login). The FB/MySpace types sites all
> require individual logins, and the profile page/friendships/group
> affiliations/shared items (aka, the features) all provide valuable
> information to marketers.
>
> So let's not kid ourselves. You can save money by using a free social
> networking service. But, to compare the ads on the NY Times to the
> advertising infrastructure that is Facebook is both technically inaccurate,
> and functionally inaccurate -- and our students and faculty need to know the
> difference.
Point taken about the ability to use those examples of print media
"anonymously" and even on a shared basis. However, you may already know
this, but I also know that I was unaware of this for quite some time: many
of those print media examples come in ZIP code-specific editions. This means
that the ads in the edition sent to an address in 13210 (the Syracuse
University area) may be different from the ones sent to 13244 (Syracuse
University's "personal" ZIP code), and the ads in the 13078 edition (the
Boulder Heights development in Suburban Syracuse) will be different from the
ones in the 13202 edition (the "projects"). Granted, "Model Railroader"
magazine doesn't do this type of ZIP code-based advertising (they're a small
enough segment of the population to begin with), but many of the much larger
circulation magazines do.
Humorous note here. I'm always amused to see targeted ads for beermaking
supplies come up whenever I'm reading email that's come up as a reply to
something I've written, and that includes my original post in the body. I
fully understand that this is because my initials are "keg." However, I must
admit that I was totally shocked when the targeted ad was "Guess who has a
crush on you" and I was reading a message either about or from a friend that
I did happen to "admire from afar." To this day I don't know what made
Google associate that particular message with that particular ad. Perhaps
they've hired Kreskin to help with their targeting.
Oh, and, as Lt Columbo might have said, "Just one more thing..." There've
been quite a few times when one of those targeted ads was exactly on the
money for something I was interested in, and glad to find out about.
--
keg
========================================
Keith E Gatling
mailto:keith@gatling.us
http://www.gatling.us/keith
The fact that I'm open-minded doesn't mean that I have to agree with you.
========================================
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