Not sure why, but I've never joined flixster.com. Yeah, I've had a number of friends and associates invite me… just couldn't ever seem to get past the whole notion of giving a site tons of information about me just to watch videos that should probably be on YouTube anyhow…
But that hasn't stopped them from spamming me with updates, announcements, and the likes. Today I decided enough was enough and went out to unsubscribe. Only, what I saw kind of set me back a bit.
You see, the schmoe in the photo up there is me.
Pretty good for an ad. And… pretty irksome too. In fact, after seeing that ad … I started rethinking my thoughts on third party cookies.
And it looks like this ad is being driven by a company called SocialReach.com. They, apparently, are in cahoots with lots of the social media sites. So my guess is that since I've been to facebook in the past few weeks, they dropped a cookie on my machine there… then when I hit flixster they used that cookie to do some sort of reverse-lookup and plaster my mug in an advert.
Pretty damned sly. And quite invasive.
Oh wow. That's impressive. Most impressive.
But in a scary, unwelcomed way. It works in that it gets your attention, but I guess getting attention is more important that the sentiment it creates.
Posted by: Brian | May 06, 2009 at 09:49 AM
Its not as sinister or perhaps more sinister than you think. Guess what? Companies will share your information. Ever get a preapproved credit card offer - that's scarier than some web ad showing your mug. The problem isn't third-party cookies, its not reading the fine print when you register on a site. Sounds like your profile on Facebook allows "voluntarily sharing" your info with advertisers. I wish the law was such that information could not be shared without explicit consent but that's not likely to happen. In the mean time, read the privacy policy on every site you plan to register with and make sure they allow you to opt out of sharing and you do so.
From the SocialReach.com privacy policy (http://socialreach.com/index.php?p=privacy):
When you interact with advertisements displayed using our technology we may obtain certain Personally Identifiable Information about you so that we can provide our services. For example, we may collect any information contained in your profile that you have voluntarily agreed to share, including your name, age, gender, and profile picture.
We will not collect Personally Identifiable Information about you in a manner inconsistent with your personal profile settings. If you do not wish to have certain Personally Identifiable Information shared with us, please change your privacy settings with our Publisher or its network.
Posted by: Ralph | May 12, 2009 at 06:58 AM
Sigh. I could go on a long rant about the grossness of it all, but then I'd be singing to the choir.
Here via your "Ultimate Pre-Flattening CheckList" post. Thanks for the great tips. You can guess the kind of fun I'm going to get to have today...
Posted by: AuthorMomWithDogs | July 01, 2009 at 07:15 AM
Yes, that's the same company that recetly produced an ad on my wife's Facebook page, saying that I thought she was an idiot! Also does the "2 people in your network have a crush on you" ads.
Someone needs to ship these people to Nigeria where they belong, (i.e. with those other scammers), if they're not already there!
Posted by: Patrick Harkins | July 09, 2009 at 08:40 AM