Yatra.com Online Advt – Travel from Delhi to Lucknow only for Rs. 1981

Yatra.com Behavioral Advertisement

Yes this is what I happen to see when I was browsing a site and the page was having a Google Adsense display of Yatra.com. Why I’m raising this? Well actually only a 4 days back I had booked a ticket from Lucknow to Delhi and I suppose this is why I am receiving this – the return fare ticket display advertisement and that too using Google Adesense.

Welcome to the World of Behavioral Advertising.

I find the whole situation interesting even amusing considering that how much information the websites in actual collect.

In order to provide a more relevant online experience, Behavioral Advertising has not made only a big entry but if stats could be collected, I believe some of the ads a user sees online are customized based on previous online activity to the liking of users, and why not it is after all giving you a customized and targeted as per online purchase history or users’ footprints solution.

Information about past online site visits are now being used to predict the interests of people using any internet connected device and not only computer and present advertisement related to those interests/ past online activities.

So, what exactly is behavioral advertising? It is a process where a company can monitor and selectively target an individual by much more than demographic and contextual interests. An example of this type of targeting includes political interests, health ailments, social network identifiers, browsing history, content preferences and more.[1]

PrivacyGourmet, a website targeted towards safety of users has but cautioned users on it.

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So to be secure and to be on safe side and not to leave so many of the footprints, it is advised to play with the Privacy Settings of your browser. Also most social networking sites offer privacy settings that give users the power to control their feeds and online activities. The ability to determine who can access their profile as well as various components thereof such as basic information, personal information, videos and photo albums could not only be controlled but also directed to the rightful users whom you really want to share your updates.

It is very clear that Online based Ecommerce sites are using this information which is available through cookies or your online footprints to serve ads which are not only contextual to the content on the page, but also to your other browsing activities.

That’s all NOT good.

So if you are really concerned I would advise to vsit the NAI website to find out who has been tracking you and to also opt out of behavioral advertising if it bothers you.

Have you watched movie,  Minority Report which takes place in the future. The main character is bombarded by advertisements in the physical world which are keyed to his past shopping history or known personal preferences.

So it is evident that behavioral targeting is on work in the online world.

So be ready when next time you see on Facebook, hey Dude, you ready for a hot night? call me on XXXXX, and we’ll pick you in your Red Shirt you bought on FashionandYou.com… and afterwards on we’ll grab a pizza at Dominos but don’t forget to get your discount coupon on SnapDeal.com