Crossing The Line with Targeted Ads

If you didn’t know there was a line, you already crossed it.

If you wave at a stranger in the street, you’re being nice. If they show up at your door the next day asking to come in so they can tell you their life history, that’s now weird.

If you watch part of a video on Facebook, you’re just browsing. If that brand then appears to know every site you’ve ever been on and follows you around accordingly, that’s no weird.

We know where the line is in normal everyday human interaction. There doesn’t need to be a literal like drawn for us to understand what “boundaries” are.

Yet most businesses cross it daily in their online advertising.

The solution: dignify people by using your social sensibilities. They’ll thank you for it far more than they will if you knock on their door every day.