It used to be easy to stay anynomous but no longer. Social marketing has now invaded our lives in so many ways--many of which we are probably not aware. You probably know that every time you use a grocery member card your purchases are tracked by the store and even sold to manufacturers of the items we buy. Most restaurants have gone away from issuing coupons for discounts to issuing "loyality cards" that require you giving up your email address. They now have your purchases tracked to send out targeted emails.
No one has duplicated this targeted advertising as well as Google. I think Google tracks my life so completely that it is scary. I was an early user of the Google search engine (remember Alta Vista, Infoseek, Lycos, Webcrawler and Excite?). Little did I know that Google would grow into a platform for other areas of my life. I have a Gmail account, Android phone, use Google maps, Google+, Google calendar and use Blogger for this blog. What I notice is how quickly ads appear on the pages I use linked to Google searches and blog posts. Google claims they only scan words in the subject lines of emails and blog posts for ads. I use an Excite homepage and have started to notice that ads on that page must have come from Google because I never use their search engine.
Internet marketing is the wave of the future so I guess that will be the price we pay for using these programs and devices. Young people today have grown up with online sharing and seem to have little regard for personal information. George Orwell couldn't have forseen that Big Brother would watch us online.
P.S.
I remember when my being tracked came through AOL Chat. I never knew that having my Mother as a chat buddy would give her the ability to monitor when I got to work from 250 miles away. One morning I was 10 minutes late logging on to my computer at work and my Mother sent me an IM saying "I see you are late to work today Son!" Brought back memories of my childhood when I had to walk to school past the office where she worked and most days I would see her in her office window looking out for me to pass. AOL made her job now so much easier and from 2 states away!!
P.S. 1
The Women's Giving Circle is sponsoring a showing of the film "Girl Rising" at the Snowden Square Cinema 14 this Thursday March 7th from 5 pm to 7 pm. For information check out this link from HoCoMoJo.
P.S.2
There will be no trash or recycling pick up tomorrow. Those residents with trash and recycling pickup tomorrow will slide to Thursday; Thursday to Friday and Friday to Saturday. Saturday pick up will not change. If you have any questions, the RPW Recycling Division can be reached at 410-313-6444
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