Internet Marketing: Managed Risk and Huge Rewards
Social media’s heavyweights continued to fill the new year with not-so-sparkling headlines over the past week.
Google came under fire for announcing in new privacy guidelines that it would be sharing user data gleaned from each of its platforms (search, mail, YouTube, etc. — plus anything you use and everywhere you go on an Android phone) across all its platforms.
Not to be outdone, Twitter announced that it would allow individual countries to censor specific tweets when the content violates local laws (consider the role Twitter played in the Arab Spring, and you can imagine the reaction this provoked).
An important caveat first — Twitter’s changes are probably not the menace to life, liberty and free speech that they’ve been made out to be — but rather they might actually enhance free speech. For example, here’s a worthwhile defense from one free speech activist (read the whole thing here):
1- The policy is narrower than before. Previously, when Twitter would take down content when forced to do so by a court order, it would disappear globally. Now, it will only be gone in the specific country in which the court order is applicable. This is a great improvement.
2- The policy is realistic–and non-realistic policies are not better as they won’t work. The idea that Twitter can just ignore court orders everywhere is not only unrealistic, it would result in more countries to try to block Twitter completely–or make it accessible only via proxies and thus greatly restrict its power. The Internet is not a “virtual” space, and cyberspace is not a planet which can float above all jurisdictions forever. In this move, Twitter is acknowledging this fact while complying within the bare minimum framework.
Google’s changes, however, aren’t nearly as likely to earn praise from any activists. Still, if you’re looking for a bright side, its that such shared data is highly useful in helping businesses more accurately target ads at likely customers.
In fact, that’s the point of the changes — to make Google’s wildly innovative web-based advertising tools even more efficient, innovative, and profitable for the companies who use them.
That’s not an attempt to dismiss the very real privacy concerns, but more so a realization that everyone — from companies to individuals — needs to view all the fantastic, free tools a little bit more soberly.
The web and social media make it easier than ever for companies to connect with potential customers and clients. But in the end, using the web will always involve at least a little bit of faith and risk. Slate blogger Matt Yglesias put it this way:
Gmail is great, and it’s free. Google Search is great, and it’s free. Google Maps is great, and it’s free. Android is not my favorite smartphone software, but you’ve got to admit it’s impressive that Google went through the trouble of creating it and then gave it away for free.
But of course Web services actually have a lot of costs associated with them. You either need to engage in a lot of fundraising, à la Wikipedia, or else you need to sell ads à la Google. And so once the basic business proposition is “this company will make the most amazing Web services available and give them away for free in order to sell you to advertisers,” plummeting levels of privacy become inevitable.
So basically you have three options:
- Avoid the web. Bunker down. Ignore the unprecedented allure of Internet marketing and irresistible opportunities it can provide for your business.
- Use the web blithely and carelessly, leaving your privacy in the hands of faceless companies.
- Be smart. Be strategic. Be intentional. Be engaged. Explore the endless opportunities of the web, but do so with a strategy, with expertise, and with an understanding that managed risk can reap huge rewards.
We can help with no. 3.
At a basic level, services like our online reputation management can help give you a little bit more control over the web (specifically, what customers, critics and competitors might be saying about you). A committed Internet marketing strategy can make a difference as well. If you understand the web and social media, and if you take an intentional, strategic approach to using them, you’ll be less likely to accidentally throw a bunch of information up on the web.
So go. Boldly explore the opportunities opening up to your company. Just be smart and strategic about it. Our Dallas Internet marketing team can help.

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