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People don't go to Facebook to shop for necessities, or even for luxuries, so it's not surprising a survey released today found that folks don't want to share their personal data in return for service on the social-networking site.

The survey -- done by Placecast, a location-based marketing firm -- found that U.S. adults are more than twice as likely to trust Amazon than Facebook with personal information. The firm aimed to gauge Americans' comfort with relinquishing private data in exchange for receiving marketing promotions offline, online, and through mobile devices.

Sixty-six percent of U.S. … Read more

You may have your friends in groups on Facebook so that when you share a piece of information you can pick which group(s) will see it. For instance, you may post about a personal accomplishment that is more relevant to your family than your co-workers or old classmates, so there's no need to share with everyone. Basically, tailored share settings on Facebook are great if you only want to divulge some of your personal details to specific people.

Unfortunately, the Facebook social ads can easily draw attention to details about your personal preferences to everyone who has you … Read more

On April 1, 2004, Google announced its new and capacious Gmail service and said it would serve up contextual ads, a move so radical that people initially thought it was an April Fool's joke. It wasn't.

At the time, more than 30 civil liberties groups urged Google to suspend Gmail, arguing that targeting people with ads in their e-mail was setting a dangerous precedent and letting the "proverbial genie out of the bottle" for privacy abuse. California Sen. Liz Figueroa drafted a bill aimed at restricting this use of Gmail (later dropped), privacy groups asked the California Attorney General to investigate … Read more

Worldwide spending on online advertising rose by 12.1 percent during the first quarter, reports Nielsen.

Across the board: television, newspapers, radio, outdoor, and Internet advertising all saw an increase in advertising spending, up from the same quarter last year. Magazines are the only media section to have suffered, falling into negative spending.

On the whole, ad spending grew by 3.1 percent globally, despite euro zone troubles and recession.

While television remains at the heart of the advertising industry, Internet advertising saw the highest overall increase.

Internet advertising spending saw growth in Europe at 12.1 percent amid … Read more

Have you ever downloaded a free mobile app and then noticed an ad invading your phone's notification bar? That's an example of aggressive advertising, a trend that mobile security firm Lookout is trying to squelch with the release on Monday of app ad guidelines.

Lookout's Mobile App Advertising Guidelines are designed to encourage ad networks and app developers to improve their privacy practices. If reckless mobile ad practices continue, apps risk being labeled as adware by Lookout. Worse, the industry could face regulation, says Lookout Chief Technology Officer Kevin Mahaffey.

"I think we can solve this … Read more

How many times have you been frustrated by a browser message something like "waiting for pain-in-the-ads.com" while your browser spins its wheels, unable to finish loading your site because it's linked to an ad server somewhere? More than a few programs have been written to suppress, prevent, and kill banner ads in Web browsers, instant messaging programs, and social networking apps. Major Share's RemoveAds is an ultrasimple tool that actually works. It blocks banner ads from loading, preventing the adware from trying to contact its home server, so pages load more quickly than they would … Read more

Twitter is kicking the tires on geolocation startup Sense Networks, according to a TechCrunch report stamped "rumor" in the headline.

The acquisition, which would be Twitter's sixth of the year, is expected to be completed this month, according to a "good source." No estimated price or terms were revealed or suggested.

New York-based Sense Networks emerged from stealth mode in 2008 with the release of an "experimental" offering called CitySense, an urban-navigation product that put a new spin on location-based mobile networking. The company mines its database of location-based information to create both … Read more

Mobile applications will drive serious growth in mobile advertising in the coming years, according to a new study.

Juniper Research reported today that in-app advertising will hit $2.4 billion by the end of the year. By 2015, that figure will soar to $7.1 billion.

In-app advertising is widely viewed as the key to success for developers in the coming years. Mobile users are becoming increasingly loath to pay too much for applications, driving prices down. In-app advertising can help soften the blow of charging so little for an expensive app.

"In 2012, it will become increasingly difficult … Read more

Google is driving serious economic activity in the U.S. -- at least, that is, according to Google.

The search giant today unveiled its 2011 Economic Impact report, and said that its search and advertising tools, including AdWords and AdSense, drove $80 billion in economic activity across the U.S. last year. The company said it reached that figure with help from "1.8 million businesses, Web site publishers, and non-profits across the U.S."

In order to arrive at that figure, Google used some fancy math. The company estimates that businesses that use AdWords make $2 in … Read more