Google’s gotten into behavioral targeting with their new “interest ads”. Like Google’s existing AdSense product, “interest ads” target users based on context. In this case the context is based on what websites the user has been, not necessarily the content of the web page. But aside from the privacy concerns, which I think Google has handled well, is behavioral targeting really what advertisers and publishers need right now?

The product doesn’t answer any of the pain points brands and publishers are facing right now. Brands want better experiences and publishers want easier ways to add value for advertisers. If anything, behavioral targeting destroys value for publishers because it means you may not have to advertise on interest based sites since you can access the same user on a long-tail blog.

What advertising needs, and what I think SocialMedia.com is pursuing, is improving the advertising experience, not targeting. Make ads better, not more targeted.

It’s no secret that the declining economy has hit publishers where it hurts, ad rates. In the face of slowing growth in advertising budgets and ever increasing growth in page views, on the margin publishers have been able to command less for their ad impressions.

Today 27 publishers are joining up to try and change that by creating three new ad units. Combined, the 27 publishers reach 109 million visitors each month. The new ad units are:

# The Fixed Panel (recommended dimension is 336 wide x 860 tall), which looks naturally embedded into the page layout and scrolls to the top and bottom of the page as a user scrolls.

# The XXL Box (recommended dimension is 468 wide x 648 tall), which has page-turn functionality with video capability.

# The Pushdown (recommended dimension is 970 wide x 418 tall), which opens to display the advertisement and then rolls up to the top of the page.

An effort like this is long overdue. As I’ve stated before, publishers either need to create their own value adds or work with partners who can add value for them. Making ads more conspicuous is one way publishers can argue they serve advertiser’s interests better.

via 27 Huge Publishers Join To Replace The Banner.

In the spirit of the Holidays:

Text Your Donation = Donors can use cell phones to text $5 to the Salvation Army in Atlanta, Georgia; and Columbus, Ohio. (link)

• Atlanta: Text the letters “TSA” (The Salvation Army) to 90999
• Columbus: Text KETTLE to 90999

Causes = Causes has over 18 million monthly active users on Facebook, each supporting different charitable causes. (link)

Donor’s Choose = Donor’s Choose lets donors donate to specific educational causes created by teachers. The site also has several embedable widgets that make giving that much easier. (link)

Lil Green Patch (Blue Cove) = These Facebook applications donate to save rain forest for every patch of virtual garden you cultivate. (link)

SharingHope.tv =  While this isn’t the most direct way to donate to the American Cancer Society, it home to some compelling video from cancer survivors covering their experiences.

TheHungerSite = It’s simple. This site donates to end hunger every time you click on their sponsors ads. (link)

CaringBridge / Lotsa Helping Hands = CaringBridge and Lotsa Helping Hands both connect familes in crisis with those who want to communicate with them or offer help.

CharityChoice = CharityChoice lets you buy a charitable gift card of any denomination. Thre recipient can then donate the value to any authorized charity. (link)

Kiva.org / Microplace = Kiva.org and Microplace allow you to help people with microtransaction loans.

Change.org = Change.org is a social site for connecting with people around causes and teaming up to take action. (link)

I remember when I got my first cell phone. I’d just entered college. It quickly became an essential way to communicate. Along with that phone came the address book, the “hash table” connecting cryptic phone numbers to real names. The phone turned 845-2345 into Jessica or 357-4857 into my best friend. Friends became phone numbers and phone numbers became friends.

I now realize that my phone number became part of my identity in the same way my name is. I didn’t realize this before because the arrangement was never challenged. The phone company had a contractual obligation to ensure my phone number was mine and only mine.

However, for the flurry of new social media identities this isn’t always the case. Often the social media identities we invest our time in building can be taken away in a heartbeat.

Such has been the experience of Steve Poland, who recently found numerous Twitter accounts he created taken back by Twitter. Other users have experienced frustration with disabled accounts on Facebook.

These experiences highlight the core problem, that unlike phone numbers or even domain names you have no guarantees tied to the identities you build within these forums. My hope is that social media publishers realize that the space is maturing, and starting to become a more legitimate and important form of identity. Instead of forcibly making changes to their user’s accounts, I hope sites like Twitter and Facebook can create a fair review process, while establishing authenticated channels for those willing to make agreements for more certainty.

There’s been a lot of prognostication going on lately, looking to the future of social media. ReadWriteWeb has a great roundup of their thoughts. Tim O’Reilly (@timoreilly) will be be on Science Friday to talk about the future of social media.

My two cents on the future of social media

My hope for social media in 2009 is that it finally gets its act together to agree on some desperately needed standards. Here’s my list of what’s lacking.

Open Identity - While Facebook Connect and MySpaceIDs are a step in finally ridding us of log-in hell, it’s also created a new problem. Each service is fighting to become the web’s identity standard (more on that here). Publishers need simple solutions that don’t try to encourage “lock in” through deep integration.

Audience Metrics - Pretty much the only thing we know about social media properties is that a lot of people are there. Social media publishers need to help marketers understand deeper metrics about visits, time on site, and defined user actions. Actions like “sharing”, “messaging”, and “viewing” need to become defined metrics. These are now under the ambiguous title of “engagement”.

Marketing Channels - Social media sites need to build better channels for marketers. Right now social media marketing isn’t something you buy. It’s someone you hire.

These experts currently follow a rather hacky process of pluging into a variety of networks to cleverly evangelize your company. Not to say that social media experts aren’t needed, but rather the tactical aspect of their job needs to be productized. These experts should be focusing on strategy. Marketers need a way to easily and unobtrusively amplify their voice in social media. One example may be Twitter allowing marketers to start a conversational campaign targeted at users who twitter on a specific topic.