When I started openBC I just wanted the website to be free of advertising because I don’t like online ads. The longer we thought about it the clearer it has become that online ads do not fit with our business. In addition to ruining the flavour of the site alliances with advertising partners are problematic because of the advertisers demands for data so rather than have to balance privacy and advertising revenue we have decided to enshrine no advertising as a core principle of the site. This fits well with our new vision to be your passport to the right people at the right time.
I am also concerned that there should be standards of conduct for social software providers as there is so much data that would be advertisers might I know that the subscription services Google has have caused them some trouble regarding user privacy concerns especially with the message scanning features if Gmail. I ask myself often when I see ads on a social software sites: Is it only me who is seeing the ad or is the advertiser seeing me?
I believe that we need to set industry standards regarding privacy and of course openBC will continue to collect only money from services and under German law all user data is totally secure.
Link to this article:
http://blog.xing.com/2005/08/why-you-do-not-see-advertising-on-openbc/trackback/
XING´s official twitter account
Leave a comment
I completely agree about online advertising. However I have a question about your future strategy regarding services offered. Will you for instance be offering a chance for recruiters like myself to advertise jobs to members? That would be very interesting. I would be interested in providing some helpful feedback to you as to what is good for both the recruiter and the candidate.
Regards
Beverly
Tja, was soll man nun davon halten, nachdem angekündigt wurde, dass nun die Nutzer mit Werbung vorsichtig geflutet werden?
Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?
Oder sollten sich die german laws einfach nur geändert haben?
Ahoi!
Dietmar J. Harms
As English is standard language on openBLOG, let me answer in English: We operate in a market marked by rapidly evolving trends and a great number of different providers. Our main aim is to continue providing users with a top quality product in future. This target involves constant expansion and upgrading of our platform. Additional revenues will give us secure means for financing this future development. Advertising partners will have absolutely no influence over the content of the platform. Our top priority will remain the focus of all activities on the members – in the long term. Only an offer that focuses on the needs of users can be successful in the long term, and thereby attractive for advertising partners as well.
Best regards,
Sabine Brockmeier