Behavioral Targeting: A Tricky Issue for Marketers†

Brandweek, October 21, 2008 — These days, countless users are wishing their social networking sites would simply pay attention to their online travels so they could serve up an ad for something they would—gasp—actually want to buy. After all, that's the whole idea behind behavioral targeting, isn't it? The footprints left behind a user's daily wanderings through the Web (or, in the case of social networks, personal and lifestyle details) are analyzed to later match her up with ads for products or services she's likely to want. It sounds so promising—in theory at least—that behavioral targeting is what many consider the wave of the future.