• Vegas vs. Las Vegas
    Funny insight on subtle differences in search terms from Edward Foster, global search director for Omnicom: their search team found that trips booked after the search query "Las Vegas" tended to be more expensive than trips booked after the search query "Vegas." They investigated and found out that people who used "Las" in their search queries tended to be older and therefore more affluent, on average, than other searchers (whom moderator Chris Knoch dubbed the "'Vegas, baby!' crowd")
  • "everyone else is doing it" won't save you
    O'Malley just drew an amusing parallel between behavioral targeting practices and wild behavior at conferences. "If any of us enaged in some bad behavior and then went back to our significant others and said, 'Well, honey, everyone else's behavior there was so much worse,' nobody would get away with that." Meaning, advertisers shouldn't engage in bad practices and then try to point to other players who are doing even worse things, and expect this argument to win when they are talking to regulators in Washington.
  • the real privacy issue is Facebook, mobile
    "The ways data are abused by Facebook and maybe some mobile apps is a much bigger issue, than what is happening with display advertising on the general Web," according to Barnette, implying that standard behavioral taregting is actually the lesser threat.
  • Angry Birds gets your ID number, call history
    Nyatsambo says that Angry Birds (which about 1/3 of conference attendees have played) can "hook your ID" of your phone, giving them access to your personal contacts and call history, asking "Why do they need that?" That's a good question.
  • Search Insider Summit Round Table Recap
    Day 1 As usual, the round tables were filled with eager attendees willing to share their opinions, provide insightful feedback on the sessions and made for some very good discussions. "Lead Gen Advertisers Unite!" Round Table: Frank Lee, SVP, Agency Strategy, The Search Agency led this roundtable and provided the following notes: Much of our conversations surrounded the use of Facebook ads, Google Instant and changes to the organic results, and early findings on the Microsoft/ Yahoo! Search alliance.
    • Facebook Advertising
      • The effectiveness of Facebook advertising was mixed depending on the industry.  For example, dating …
  • a good idea: behavioral targeting with consumer input
    Lori Weiman, CEO of the Search Monitor, just came up with an interesting idea (already in limited use by Google and Yahoo) to allow users to gain access to their behavioral targeting profiles to correct information, make more precise so advertisers can target more relevant ads to them. When the audience was asked if they would participate in such a system, at least half raised their hands. Of course, they're at SIS so they're probably drinking the koolaid. I wonder what the general public thinks?
  • Search Insider Summit Round Table Recaps
    Day 1 As usual, the round tables were filled with eager attendees willing to share their opinions, provide insightful feedback on the sessions and made for some very good discussions. "Lead Gen Advertisers Unite!" Round Table: Frank Lee, SVP, Agency Strategy, The Search Agency led this roundtable and provided the following notes: Much of our conversations surrounded the use of Facebook ads, Google Instant and changes to the organic results, and early findings on the Microsoft/ Yahoo! Search alliance.
    • Facebook Advertising
      • The effectiveness of Facebook advertising was mixed depending on the industry.  For example, dating …
  • regulation of behavioral targeting -- the debate goes on
    On one hand, "abuse of data could kill behavioral targeting," according to Roger Barnette, founder & CEO at SearchIgnite, but on the other hand, "I don't trust government getting in the middle of our industry." Nyatsambo counters by noting that "Do Not Call" has been successful (another poll of the audience shows over half have signed on), suggesting that there is indeed a role for government regulation. And on yet another hand, moderator Colin O'Malley says that "we'd all like to avoid the commercial impact of Do Not Call, when they pulled up the bathtub plug and a whole industry …
  • nobody at the conference uses AdBlock+
    Micah Nyatsambo, director of emerging technology for Media Contacts, did a quick poll, and not a single hand went up at SIS. However, he notes that there have already been over 100 million downloads of AdBlock+, indicating there is real awareness and concern about privacy issues in the general public.
  • "we have to go to the library and use books"
    OMG that is so retro
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