Direct Marketing Targets MySpace

Posted by Beth Lane Jun 27, 2007

We told you so.

As parents, we have been warning you for years - "Don't put any personal information about yourself on the internet!"

You didn't listen.

And as parents, we have watched the results with a kind of fascinated horror. Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have produced exactly the kinds of problems we predicted...sexual predators, embarrassing break up scandals and the inevitable lost job opportunities. Remember when your future boss got an eyeful of those hilarious spring break pictures? You know, those adorable photos of you passed out in your underwear...

Awwww Mom!

But hey...you laugh at danger right?

Still, what kind of parents would we be if we didn't at least try to warn you?

Whether you want to believe it or not, there is a new predator targeting you on your MySpace account. Possibly the most potentially dangerous enemy your generation has yet encountered.

Marketers.

The Annual DMA Conference took place last week in New York City and the keynote speech was titled, “Next Gen Interactive: How Marketers are Optimizing the Power of Social Media to Connect and Deliver Results."

It had to happen sooner or later. Developing and selling highly targeted lists that profile and sort consumers by their likes, beliefs and opinions are the very heart of marketing and advertising. Social networking sites are an all you can eat buffet of specific Gen Y personal information... the Holy Grail of marketing.

If the idea of thousands of marketing/advertising executives meeting to brainstorm new ways to use your own social media against you - " to engage individual customers with relevant and timely interactions that provide the information and offers they want..." - doesn't scare you...nothing will.

Are you still laughing?