So i’m thrilled that Google has finally jumped into the interest-based advertising space. Because of the great respect Google has for user privacy it’s been a long time coming, but as an internet user I’m excited. Why? Because this is going to make ads more relevant to me at a time when advertisers seem too willing to interrupt or distract my web experience to otherwise gain my attention. Earlier this week web publishers committed to even bigger ads to try and do away with banner blindness. Groan, what a race to the bottom.
A few weeks back i got the chance to look at my individual interest-based profile on an internal demo. It was really accurate – i like basketball, rock music, politics, and a few other categories. It gave me the option to opt-out of any of those categories or remove my profile all-together. There were no “OMG” moments where something i had read or done on the web now was exposed for everyone to see. It’s just machines talking to machines. Anyway, if this info can be used to help personalize my web experience I’m all for it.
And if the result is better ads that i’m more likely to click on, well that’s one important way to support websites who deliver incredible value to me for free each day.