Yes, users should profile themselves

In response to Martin Varsavsky’s blog — yes, social networks and other ad networks should give users the ability to do this. It’s not only less annoying for users to have relevant ads served to them, but better for advertisers. Relevance = better click-through and conversion. I’m willing to pay more for ads that are well-targeted.

It’s not a question of should but rather how. I know MSN is planning (or maybe already has?) to provide this kind of personalization. Months ago, I saw a speaker from Microsoft talk about personalizing advertising through Microsoft’s ad network. What I thought was most fascinating was the idea of including some element of randomness into the ads; while 9/10 ads would be highly targeted to what the user has asked for, 1/10 would be something unexpected (I’m making up the percentages, maybe it’s only 1/20, but you get the idea).

Why? Because we often don’t know what we want until we see it. You may have indicated an interest in energy-saving home appliances, but didn’t think you’d want ads about cars… until an ad is served up about a new hybrid or hydrogen-powered car.

Are Google and Yahoo planning to follow suit? Speaking as a Google Adwords advertiser, I hope so. Why stop with only online advertising? Would people still skim their Tivo-recorded programs if ads were spot on?