If you have been following the news recently, you would have caught the outcry from Facebook users and MoveOn.org regarding Facebook’s integration of users actions onto third party sites via a news feed. However, they made some changes which turned out to not be enough. Another incident is the protests which arose against Gmail for using the content of users’ emails to target ads. Users felt that their emails were no longer private as they should have been. These examples are just some specific cases of conflict that we may see again in future - that of targeted advertisements versus privacy.

Targeted advertisements and personalized services are not just fads; they will be a part of the future. This is because if we take the example of targeting, it benefits each party involved. Targeted advertising is more profitable for advertisers. Publishers can offer richer advertising based services; and for users, ads will mean sometimes useful information that they get with services instead of unwanted intrusions that they are presently. The aim of personalization is to make advertisements useful for consumers. However, the recent protests against these moves are simply because of the fact that user’s information is being used for targeting and personalization but without the consent of those users. Facebook’s beacon did not ask users whether they would like to opt in; they could opt out, but by default, Facebook had the right to use the information about all users’ activities. This assumption by companies like Facebook, that they could use information regarding users’ activities without asking their consent is what has led to the protest. What companies need to realize is that they need to respect user’s privacy. Or in other words, what we need is a mechanism which gives users complete control over how and by whom information about them is used. One such effort is Vendor Relationship Management or VRM.

As the name suggests, this project aims to give some power to users in handling their transactions with businesses. Presently, through CRM, the responsibility is in the hands of vendors to manage their relationship with consumers. But since the web has enabled an easy connection between companies and users and it is on users to handle their own information, VRM may soon turn out to be quite a viable model. As written on home page of VRM project: “The goal of VRM is to improve the relationship between Demand and Supply by providing new and better ways for the former to relate to the latter. In a larger sense, VRM immodestly intends to improve markets and their mechanisms by equipping customers to be independent leaders and not just captive followers in their relationships with vendors and other parties on the supply side of the marketplace.”

What VRM or a VRM-like approach will offer is firstly, an identity to users; and secondly, control over their personal information. This idea is presently in the conceptualization phase and much work needs to be done here and it also presents an entrepreneurial opportunity. What I can think of is a platform where service providers can target consumers according to information they choose to make public and where consumers can also search for providers which are offering solutions to the problems they are facing. Such a platform will make it easier for consumers and service providers to connect with each other in a mutually beneficial way rather then using the present method of intrusive advertising.