Advertisers always targeted potential clients based on common interests. A sports magazine would obviously feature ads that sell sporting goods or camping equipment. Those were clear targeted ads. With the internet came textually targeted ads that used keywords or key phrases to place ads on a page directly related to the searcher's queries. That has been Google's model and has brought the Mountain View based company billions in revenue. Sometimes advertisers find it difficult to target customers to their products because there may not be clear keywords or key phrases that describe or point to the product. There are however other tendencies that can be gleaned over time that can give a profile on a specific user and then target him for ads. This is called “behavioral targeting “and it is the new frontier in internet search. The research company eMarketer expects spending on behavioral targeting to double to $1 billion next year and reach $3.8 billion by the year 2011. 

  Behavioral targeting however has touched off huge ethical debates. To what extent should any search tactic actually profile an individual? Would that not make the web a truly invasive tool that can almost predict an individual's preferences and send him targeted ads. Is that so bad? Gmail has been doing this for a long time and nobody seems to be terribly upset. The search giant has made e-mail service free by putting ads on e-mail pages. There are groups like the “Center for Democracy and Technology “that think new trends have crossed the line of aggressive advertising and entered the realm of privacy invasion.

The FTC has held hearings on the subject while some of the major web portals are trying to convince consumers that behavioral targeting is in their best interest. It seems like a tough sell at times. Some Facebook users have complained that the social giant has gone too far while Facebook promises to limit its use of user's habits information.

It seems that “behavior targeting “is certainly here to stay. Those who use it wisely will be rewarded handsomely.