MyGoogleSpace

by -- Rashidi Barnett

In August of last year, Google and MySpace announced their $900 million dollar deal on search and contextual ads. I’ve noticed over the past few weeks the Google contextual ads on my log in page become a lot more targeted than they once were. The first one I actually noticed was a little over a month ago when there was an ad with the keyword “Pittsburgh,” my hometown.

Last week I saw some more targeted and relevant ads served based on things that are in my MySpace profile.

What caught my eye initially was the ad for “Del Mar.” I have listed under my list of favorite albums “Any Café del Mar CD.” The Café del Mar is actually in Ibiza, Spain, they put out compilations of the type of music they play there. If the keyword term for “café del mar” was purchased by Expedia, and it showed “Save on trips to Ibiza, Spain” then that would be much more relevant.

I have “The Matrix Trilogy” listed as one of my favorite movies. What is potentially a missed opportunity is that “The Matrix Trilogy” was actually released on HD-DVD on May 22, 2007. As of today, June 19, 2007, Amazon is purchasing the keyword “Matrix Trilogy”. Maybe they don’t have it running in the content network?

Overall, I’ll be taking a closer look over the next few months to see if there is any improvement. Marketing is always more effective when it is both relevant and timely.

If you have noticed targeted ads on your MySpace page, please let me know, I’d like to hear.

Update : June 22, 2007

I noticed some more ads based upon my profile. I don't have "Slap Maxwell" on my profile, its actually Maxwell the Columbia Records recording artist. I don't have "Family Guy" either, though I do enjoy "Family Guy." (I actually had to check to see if it was on my profile, and no, its not) I do have Musiq on my profile as well.