With the introduction of Google+, the Internet is exploding with excitement (and some skepticism, of course) about how it’s going to change the face of digital consumerism and marketing. As a media planner and buyer for a digital marketing agency, I, too, am quite curious to know.
Google is slowly but surely activating invites and doubling its Google+ population, and industry thought leaders are putting their rumor circuits in the seas. Google+ will change it all — social gaming and networking, Facebook’s popularity, and online marketing, as a whole.
Interestingly, the effect of Google+ on display marketing has yet to be a focus of conversation, which is strange considering the fact that it widens the network of potential ad impressions. Facebook wanted no part in a data-sharing partnership with Google, so Google asked itself how it could make its own.
Keep a close eye on Google, the FCC, and the Digital Advertising Alliance as Google+ grows exponentially. As businesses get involved later this year, more questions will arise about consumer privacy and display targeting technologies. Google makes its environment comfortable to share very specific demographic, psychographic, and personal information on a technologically public website — which means once people start seeing ads that are eerily relevant, you can bet there is going to be uproar.
I’m eager to see how all industry organizations respond, both preemptively and reactively.
[Contributed by Emily Carroll]