Week 13: Think Piece

Having access to the Internet is a privilege. But, users are paying more than what they think to be apart of the World Wide Web. They're paying with personal information. Google and Facebook have a privacy policy that breaks down just how much they take.
Google will take information like searches, device information, log information, unique application numbers, cookies, and even your location. So how do they use this information? Google claims it uses your information to provide a better service. This claim has some truth. With more information, Google can provide more relevant advertisements, search results and online connections. But, you lose a lot of privacy.
Facebook works the same way, only in more detail. The service Facebook provides requires users to share very personal information everyday. Just about every piece of information is given to Facebook. Not only what you post, but also what your friends post is all given away. Status updates, comments, tags and a wealth of other information is sacrificed to enjoy the benefits Facebook provides. Facebook claims it uses information to provide friend suggestions, measure the success of ads, and allow location features.

Week 9 Think Piece

We have entered a new digital age. This is an era where one can access infinite information, videos, games, and socialize with friends. Thanks to Web 2.0, the online realm has truly become limitless. So, what is Web 2.0? That question has been argued for years.
The best way to demonstrate Web 2.0 is by comparing it to its predecessor, Web 1.0. The characteristics that define Web 1.0 include static sites, sites that aren’t interactive, and proprietary applications. Web 2.0 offers much more.
Static sites never change. Web 1.0 was riddled with permanent sites, or sites that required lots of time to update. Web 2.0 allows for sites to evolve. Facebook is a good example. Facebook.com is constantly changing. Users contribute with millions of posts per day, and advertisements are always being updated.
Web 1.0 lacked interactive sites. Today, one can enter almost any site on the web and share its information on the vast amount of social networks. Users can leave comments, “like” stories, and post their own videos. Blogs are accessible for surfers to view or create. The Internet is an interactive realm provided by Web 2.0.
“Under the Web 1.0 philosophy, companies develop software applications that users can download, but they can't see how the application works or change it” (Strickland). Web 2.0 and its browsers, like Firefox, allows users to view and alter applications. This benefits everyone, as some alterations may improve applications.
To conclude, Tim O’Reilly claims Web 2.0 components include:

• Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
• Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
• Trusting users as co-developers
• Harnessing collective intelligence
• Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
• Software above the level of a single device
• Lightweight user interfaces, development models, and business models

Web 2.0 is constantly changing, it is interactive, and it is allowing users to be more interactive.

Sources:
O'Reilly, T. (2005, Sept. 30). What is web 2.0. Retrieved from http://oreilly.com/lpt/a/6228

Strickland, J. (n.d.). Is there a web 2.0?. Retrieved from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-101.htm

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Week 6: Think Piece

Accountability is important for all advertisers. Advertisers must know where, when and how their promotions are being run. There are several means to measure the success of promotions, yet some advertisers have no idea how these ads are being managed. Advertisers turn to ad-buying firms to place promotions in the media. Ad-buying firms “typically uses its marketplace leverage to buy ad time for the best prices possible” (Steinberg, 2010). This strategy may allow advertisers to know where their ads are being placed, but not when.

Advertisers could be losing the attention of their targets as well as profit, because they are left in the dark. When an ad-buying firm places an ad on a certain channel, the firm rarely looks at how long the commercial breaks are or at what programming is being aired at the time of the ad. This overlook by the firms can have negative results for the advertisers.

When an ad is placed in the middle of a nine-minute commercial break, the consumer may lose focus and disregard the ad. Firms will place the same ad multiple times during one program, “a practice that many ad buyers will tell you can lead to a condition known as "commercial wear-out" in which viewers get so burned out on the ad they stop listening to what it says” (Steinberg, 2010). The same mistakes occur online as well.

Advertisers need to have a tighter grip on where and how there ads are being managed. It takes a lot of time, money and creativity to develop an affective ad, so there is no sense in letting an ad slip by the target. Advertisers need to know not just where there promotions are being placed, but they also need to know when and in what context those ads are being placed.

Source: 

Brian, S. (2010, Sept. 13). Do you know where your commercials are?. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/mediaworks/advertising-marketers-commercials-run/145858/ 

Week 5: Think Piece

            Online advertising is an excellent way to reach consumers of all demographics and psychographics. People of all ages, children, millennials and seniors use the Internet for several reasons. But, how do marketers measure Web activity such as exposure of a Web site, stickiness, relevance of messages to users, comarketing opportunities, and efficacy of user targeting? There is no perfect measurement, but some measurements offer more advantages than others.

            For measuring Web site exposure, advertisers use page impressions, top pages requested, hits, visits, unique visitors, ad impressions, clicks and click-through rate. A broad measurement for Web site exposure is the ad impression measurement. But, “It may not be a good indicator of user involvement with an ad because it does not track whether users interacted with the ad” (Bhat, Bevans & Sengupta, 2002, p. 103). An advertiser would use the click measurement to measure ad interactions.

            Stickiness “is the ability of a Web site to attract and hold visitors’ interest” (Bhat, Bevans & Sengupta, 2002, p. 103). To measure stickiness advertisers measure unique visitors, average time per visit, average time per unique visitor, repeat visitor percentage, frequency and regency. The first component for measuring stickiness is through unique visitors. With greater number of visitors, there is higher chance for user involvement in online ads.

            Measuring targeting efficiency is valuable to advertisers. By knowing whether or not advertisements are effectively reaching their consumers, marketers can create more reliable campaigns. Targeting efficiency is measured through composition, global geographic overview and observed profiling. Observed profiling analyzes users online behavior and places ads accordingly. If a user spends lots of time looking at cars, then the advertiser would place a car ad on another site such as Google or Yahoo!.

Source: 

Bhat, S., Bevans, M., & Sengupta, S. (2002). Measuring users' web activity to evaluate and enhance advertising effectiveness. Journal of Advertising, 31(3), 97-106