Originally published at Wordout.

Clickstream

First of all, we need to understand what we mean by clicks. It is, simply, everything you click on while you’re on the web. The map of everywhere you’ve ever been. Your history. A record of who you are. Think of them as the words in your daily journal that are automagically written for you every time you log on.

So who owns your diary?

Well, if you’re a Comcast customer, it appears that Comcast thinks that they own your clicks. (As a TimeWarner customer, that doesn’t make me feel too safe.) According to David Cancel of Compete.com, clickstream data from at least 2 million Comcast accounts has been purchased to perform statistical analyses. What they purchase is your entire clickstream. That is, every click you ever make on the web, every action you take, sold for 40 cents to anyone who has half a dollar. But don’t take my word for it. Go here and listen to the audio track of the panel interview in front of a live audience. It’ll take you about 13 minutes to listen to the whole thing. If you don’t have that much time, go here to read some of the highlights transcribed from the audio. That will only take a minute.

How could this happen, you say? Well, it’s like this… advertisers think that if they know everything you do on the web, they can serve you better ads. Better ads means that the ad you see is probably one that you need to see, or want to see because you are “in the market” for something. I’ve had a few sales jobs in the past, and I know that if I am helping a random customer there’s a 20% chance that I will make a sale. But if I have had prior contact with the customer that jumps to about 50%, which gives me an edge and inevitably, more sales and more income.

The Numbers Game

We, as consumers, tend to see all advertising as something intrusive, a ” them versus us” scenario. But that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. A great salesman always knows that the job of selling is nothing more or less than providing people with what they need or want, when they want or need it. Targeted advertising aims to do just that. Personally, I welcome the day when my online ads reflect more of what I am interested in.

We’re all massive consumers, even those old hippie types among us who try to avoid it. We’re always in the market for something. And companies know this. That’s what advertising is all about. In the past, they used a shotgun effect, hoping to reach the largest numbers of readers by sheer volume. I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “It’s a numbers game” when I was learning sales. It’s the concept behind spam. And it does work, to a minor extent. But it’s not very efficient.

They’re right though, it is a numbers game, just not the one they’re playing. If I can get the numbers to favor me then I can do 2 things. I can sell more easily, and I can cut my advertising costs. Look at it this way, if I know you aren’t at all in the market for what I have, why should I waste my efforts on you? And if I know you want or need what I have, shouldn’t I try to tell you about what I’ve got? That’s what targeted advertising is all about. The nature of it increases both profits and customer satisfaction. It’s a win-win situation for us all.

The Failure of Targeted Advertising

So far, the web has seen “targeted” advertising flail and flop on its face. When I put Pat Benatar videos on one of my webpages, all I got for months was Pat Benatar related ads served up. I added one link to a poetry blog and suddenly was inundated with ads for various poetry contests and the like. Neither of these kinds of ads interested me in the least. And I don’t even want to get into the bane of the internet, ads for the opposite sex. Or maybe the same sex, for some people, I dunno. I just get so tired of those.

It’s obvious that targeted advertising has failed miserably thus far. And thus far, the companies doing the advertising have been the ones manipulating all the data which determines what we see. It’s obvious that these companies have no clue how to get it done right. A change is necessary to make it work. A big change.

We, the consumers, should be in control of that information. As a society, we’ve pretty much accepted that we have to see ads to get the rest of the web so cheaply. We make analogies to television and radio, where we’ve been conditioned for generations to accept interruptions in programming from “sponsors”. Most of us, I think, are for the most part, satisfied with that arrangement. We ignore the ones we don’t care about and pay attention to the ones we do. But mostly, we just ignore them.

The Promise of Targeted Advertising

Wouldn’t it be nice if, when you decide to start thinking about buying an engagement ring, or a new oil filter, you could somehow tell the web what you need and then just be served up ads that were about the things you actually needed? There would probably be a requirement to sign up for at least some advertising, perhaps in general categories. But there should also be a way for us to tell the web what we know we need, so we could do a little shopping as we move about our daily business.

Think about it. Now, instead of ignoring those ads or complaining about them, they’ve become something more. They’ve become a resource for you, the consumer, to exploit. Sure, they’ll still be advertising, with all the general BS that goes with that. But if the companies already know that you’re looking for something, they may feel a little less like trying to grab your attention and more inclined to provide some real shopping value. Something that makes it easier for you to take care of yourself. That’s what you want, and it’s also what they want.

The problem is, just like we’ve been conditioned to take a few ads with our daily dose of whatever, the companies have been conditioned to think that they need to control this process. It will be hard to get them to let go of that. Right now, as we have seen, they are fine with selling our information amongst themselves. With millions of dollars trading hands monthly in these sales, it’s easy to see why. But the potential payoff of letting consumers control their own advertising must be in the hundreds of millions, if not billions.

Isn’t Win-Win a No-Brainer?

Essentially what I’m talking about here is a complete shift in the way commerce is done. So far, it has been such that the consumer is seen as being exploited by the companies. With self-targeted advertising, the consumer has more control, and the ads are more effective. More effective ads mean less investment in wasted advertising, and higher sales ratios from the advertising that is produced. Companies, by allowing consumers to take the role of exploiter, will boost sales while cutting costs. It is, for sure, a no-brainer.

What do you think? Would you want more control over your online advertising? Do you think it could be done? And what about them selling our clickstreams? Is that right? Whose information is that, anyway? I’m curious to hear what you think about this. As for me…well, I want win-win all around.