Are advertisers the new cyber stalkers or your new best friend?

Anyone who has looked for a hotel or done a little shopping online lately knows that someone is watching. After all, it’s no coincidence that the very next time you log on, a hotel you may have been reviewing or the last store you visited online comes right back at ya’ in the form of a banner ad. So how do they do that? Data Mining. Essentially you’re being cyber profiled. On the www, everyplace you go, everything you do, is being captured so that marketers can target you more effectively.

Do consumers like it? No. In a recent study only 21% of respondents said “I am comfortable with having my web browsing activity tracked so that I could receive advertising more targeted to my needs and interests.” At 24%, respondents ages 14-20 (trailing millenials) and 21-26 (leading millenials) mind it just a little bit less.