The Obama administration laid out a set of principles covering the basics of privacy and it does a very good job in covering off on control, transparency, context, security, access and accuracy, limited liability and accountability. Where we believe it falls short is the the definition of personal data and whether the definition truly protects consumers’ privacy and how the framework can be enforced.

As it stands now, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) will review practices of companies who voluntarily agree to the terms, though the White House stresses that they expect Congress pass official legislation protecting the public’s online privacy and personal data. We may be months away from seeing real-world implications of the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

Our readers straddle both the advertising and consumer lines, so it’s good to see that there’s a discussion around consumer privacy. Lets make sure it continues. Lets hope we all think through implications holistically and ensure there’s enforcement. With social taking off and creating a whole new universe, the implications are greater than ever.

For those who haven’t reviewed the bill of rights, CNN Money has posted it, Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

In the meantime, Anonymizer, Inc. wants consumers to take online privacy matters into their own hands by employing a comprehensive Internet security strategy.

The recently announced consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and the browser-based Do Not Track button are designed to protect the online privacy of consumers and to set expectations for how companies should handle personal data. Anonymizer, Inc., www.anonymizer.com claims that while these initiatives will prevent some Web tracking, they will not stop all tracking. And, they still do not necessarily prevent advertisers from collecting and selling user data.

“We’re encouraged to see the consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and Do Not Track technology, but they are still not a 100% guarantee that consumers and their personal data will be protected,” said Lance Cottrell, Founder and Chief Technology Officer for Anonymizer, Inc. “While these initiatives are steps in the right direction, they should not be relied on exclusively. Consumers must take an active role in protecting their online privacy.”

In addition to opting out of tracking, consumers should adjust their browser privacy settings, block cookies, clear old cookies, and adopt a broad Internet security strategy that includes an online privacy product that prevents activities from being tracked based on their IP address. Products like Anonymizer Universal, www.anonymizer.com/homeuser/universal, help prevent unauthorized access to personal data on Wi-Fi hotspots and keep users anonymous online while at home, at work and on the go.

For more on Anonymizer, Inc.’s views on the Privacy Bill of Rights and Do Not Track initiatives, please visit:

About Anonymizer, Inc.
As the global leader in online privacy, anonymity, and identity protection solutions, Anonymizer continues to push the envelope with products that allow consumers and organizations to remain safe, secure, and anonymous each time they go online. The company’s proprietary technologies address the needs of home users and businesses. With a pristine 15-year history of protecting customer online identities, Anonymizer’s products have set the standard in Internet privacy, and protected billions of web searches and personal communications.

Sources:

Anonymizer
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“We are excited to offer marketers a complete solution for capitalizing on the growing social marketing opportunity across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn,” said David Karnstedt, Efficient Frontier’s CEO. “Social media marketing is more than just the initial contact with the customer and requires both compelling experiences and an ongoing dialog to realize the full potential of the interaction. The acquisition of Context Optional will create a unified platform for marketers to manage all of their social media touch points with brand enthusiasts.”

Efficient Frontier’s platform manages ad campaigns across search, display and social media, enabling customers to acquire audiences across multiple channels and optimize for better results. Context Optional’s Social Marketing Suite of products is an enterprise solution for brands to engage and retain audiences across Facebook and Twitter.

By aligning acquisition and engagement strategies, the combined company will be able to deliver a seamless and measurable user experience by integrating advertising and social marketing content. Brands will be able to more efficiently target audiences based on social engagement insights and continually refine their Facebook application experiences to better match their audiences’ interests. Efficient Frontier will also be able to provide integrated analytics to provide a more complete view of performance including virality.

“Efficient Frontier is a leader in digital marketing and our respective clients are asking us for a comprehensive solution to both acquire and build relationships with their customers,” said Kevin Barenblat, Context Optional’s Co-Founder and CEO. “This combination is recognition that social media is now indeed a powerful marketing channel in which brands are significantly investing. We’re excited to be the first in the market with an integrated, enterprise solution to enable brands to effectively scale their investment in social.”

About Efficient Frontier
Efficient Frontier is a leader in online performance marketing managing search marketing, display and social media campaigns for advertisers and agencies around the world. Efficient Frontier currently manages more than $1 billion in annual marketing spend on behalf of their clients globally. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory for search engine marketing and today combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive strategic and tactical value-added services. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.

About Context Optional
Context Optional is the leading provider of social marketing software and services to global brands and advertising agencies. The company provides marketers with comprehensive solutions to build, manage, monitor and measure brand presence across the social web to meet their acquisition, engagement and retention goals. By combining a leading technology platform, industry expertise, and comprehensive analytics into an integrated approach, Context Optional delivers the most effective social CRM and marketing solutions to Fortune 500 brands and agencies. Context Optional is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York. For more information, please visit http://www.contextoptional.com.

“At Barnes & Noble College, we are dedicated to bringing our campus partners ‘what’s next’ in the education retail industry, and our launch of social commerce is just the latest example,” said Max J. Roberts, president of Barnes & Noble College. “Combining our retail excellence with a deep understanding of student and university trends, we are delivering innovative solutions that are transforming our college bookstores and the student experience.”

Barnes & Noble College joins only a handful of retailers in leveraging the ever-increasing power of social networking sites such as Facebook—and its more than 500 million users—for e-commerce. From this social commerce platform, students now can “like” the products they buy from the bookstore and show their friends what they have purchased (or would like to purchase), thereby recommending the products to their peers.

Among college aged students, peer to peer or “word of mouth” recommendations have tremendous power and significantly influence buying behavior—and social media continues to fuel these forms of marketing. According to McKinsey & Company, “word of mouth” is the primary factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions. Additionally, a recent Colloquy study found that 56 percent of young adults rely on social networks such as Facebook when it comes to recommending products and services.
“In a university community, students are engaged in campus life through their social networks, including purchasing and recommending products and services,” Roberts added. “In fact, we currently have nearly 250,000 Facebook fans, and the platform has jumped from the fifth to the number one referral site to our campus bookstore websites since the current school year began. We now are taking our social media marketing strategy one step further by integrating the two successful platforms into one social retailing experience.”
Leading social media firms, Enter New Media and Expion, partnered with Barnes & Noble in the development of this innovative platform, which features products found on each bookstore’s website. In addition to the customary Facebook sections (Wall, Info, etc.), the new social commerce platform includes customized tabs, such as:
“The Shop”– showcasing the hottest trends at each individual bookstore
“Books” – offering textbooks in all formats (new, used, rental, digital) and access to NOOKstudy, the retailer’s innovative eReading and study application
“Mascot” – featuring alumni, athletic and other apparel, online promotions, sweepstakes, and a Top Fan section
“The Hall” –a live feed to a student-focused blog, unique applications, gifts and new student orientation materials

Social commerce is the newest example of how Barnes & Noble College is redefining the college retail industry. An early pioneer in social media, the retailer continues to integrate this tool in all of its marketing, communications and customer service initiatives, including Facebook tabs that support important school causes and Twitter and FourSquare initiatives. Further leveraging the power of peer to peer communications, Barnes & Noble College also launched its unique Student Ambassador Program this past year. This program engages students to promote their college bookstore to their peers using both conventional grassroots and evolving social media channels.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 705 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc., also operates 636 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK eBook Readers, devices from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software.
General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

About Enter New Media
Enter New Media (ENM) is a leading social media agency specifically focused on creating value for the entertainment, fashion, and retail sectors. ENM is a privately held company based in New York City. For more information, go to http://enternewmedia.com/.

About Expion
Expion enables brands to monitor and manage local social media in real-time to produce actionable intelligence and maintain alignment of social media activities across corporate and local levels to generate extraordinary results. Expion is a privately held company headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. For more information, visit www.expion.com.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Kosmix, underscoring its commitment to social and mobile commerce. Kosmix, based in Mountain View, Calif., has developed a social media technology platform that filters and organizes content in social networks to connect people with real-time information that matters to them.

Kosmix was founded by Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, early pioneers of online shopping, whose first company, Junglee, was acquired by Amazon.com in 1998. The founders and the Kosmix team will operate as part of the newly formed @WalmartLabs and continue to be based in Silicon Valley. Walmart plans to expand the @WalmartLabs team and expects this new group will create technologies and businesses around social and mobile commerce that will support Walmart’s global multi-channel strategy, which integrates the shopping experience between bricks and mortar stores and e-commerce. Walmart operates retail businesses in 15 countries and e-commerce businesses in nine countries.

Kosmix’s innovative technology platform searches and analyzes connections in real-time data streams to deliver highly personalized insights to users. The platform powers TweetBeat, a real-time social media filter for live events with more than five million visits last month; Kosmix.com, a site to discover social content by topic; and RightHealth, one of the top three health and medical information sites by global reach.

“We are expanding our capabilities in today’s rapidly growing social commerce environment,” said Eduardo Castro-Wright, Walmart’s vice chairman. “Social networking and mobile applications are increasingly becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influencing how they think about shopping, both online and in retail stores. We are excited to have the Kosmix team join us to accelerate the development of our social and mobile commerce offerings.”

“The world of social media is exploding and for millions of consumers their social connections matter hugely in their daily lives,” said Anand Rajaraman, co-founder of Kosmix. “Our work has focused on developing a social genome platform that captures the connections between people, places, topics, products and events as expressed through social media — be it a feed, a tweet or a post. We are thrilled to join one of the world’s largest companies and combine our work with Walmart’s vast online and offline retail businesses.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and the company anticipates it will close during the first half of this year.

About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at 9,000 retail units under 60 different banners in 15 countries. With fiscal year 2011 sales of $419 billion, Walmart employs more than 2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://www.walmartstores.com/, on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/Walmart, and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/walmart. Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com/ and http://www.samsclub.com/.

SOURCE Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Designed to help marketers reach for the sky, Kenshoo Cloudvertizing enables true geographic targeting by going beyond physical locations and into physical sciences. With an API feed from the Total Biological Service (Total BS), Kenshoo uses a patent-pending algorithm to provide 24-hour, 3-day and 10-day forecasts. This data can then be modeled out to determine the optimal level of coverage incorporating key metrics like Cloud Travel Route (CTR) and Cumulus Per Cirrus (CPC).

“With more and more computing being conducted in the cloud, it was only natural for Kenshoo to incorporate cloudvertizing into our digital marketing software suite,” said Alon Sheafer, Chief Strategy Officer at Kenshoo.

Kenshoo Cloudvertizing has been in a private beta for select customers in London and San Francisco where cloud density is highest. The precipitation for this innovation was the industry trend towards hyper-local targeting and location-based advertising. Having already been in market for nearly two years with a local solution and achieving much success, Kenshoo seized the opportunity to round out its offering with an atmospheric solution.

Yoav Izhar-Prato, Kenshoo CEO, added, “We look forward to making it rain with cloudvertizing.”

About Kenshoo
Kenshoo is a digital marketing software company that enjoys April Fools gags while engineering technology solutions for search marketing and online advertising. Kenshoo’s global platform delivers the control, automation and results needed to make better investments across search, social and display campaigns. Advertisers, agencies and marketing providers use the Kenshoo EnterpriseTM and Kenshoo LocalTM suites to direct more than $15 billion in online sales revenue. Kenshoo powers eight of the ten largest ad agency networks and five of the top ten retailers. With campaigns running in more than 100 countries, Kenshoo customers include such brands as Barnes & Noble, CareerBuilder, Facebook, Havas Digital, Hitwise, iREP, John Lewis, LendingTree, Omnicom Media Group, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Kenshoo has ten international offices and is backed by Sequoia Capital and Arts Alliance. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Source: Kenshoo

I would have loved to have seen a bit more of an apples to apples comparison in the EDIs below. Also, lest we forget that the report is biased simply because it’s from appssavvy.

The appssavvy report: Social Activity Index – Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Advertising (Download free at: http://socialactivityindex.appssavvy.com) found social activity advertising rivals paid search in terms of effectiveness, outperforms standard display ads by a multiple of 11 and more than doubles the performance of rich media.

About appssavvy
appssavvy rethinks the relationship between delivery and reception of advertising. We partner with leading web publishers and developers to uncover what people are doing across the Internet. Understanding people and their actions is what enables appssavvy, and the brands and agencies that we work with, to leverage and experience social activity. Today, the appssavvy Social Activity Platform connects more than 293 million people performing 1.4 billion social activities each month with brands.

Source: appssavvy

Download the appssavvy Social Activity Index report.

I’d like to cover two things in today’s post…1) the three laws of UGC and 2) the application of SEO…

Ok, first the three laws of Social Media and UGC:

1. Develop distinctive and meaningful content that attracts your target audience
2. Provide them with the ability to find, organize and share that information
3. Reward the activity, especially the active users who discover and proliferate the information…

Repeat Steps 1…you get the idea.

Now, the second…application of Search Engine Optimization:

This is actually the fun part from my perspective…

Create an editorial calendar that includes your target keywords, linguistic profile, and topics to produce content people care about
Ensure that you’re technology doesn’t create a walled garden, if it’s not findable in search, it’s not worth it. Part of the excitement is the fact that your visitors information, the stuff they’ve discovered, was found by being Google’d by others!
Let others know about your destination, particularly the editorial media…aka online Public Relations and link building.
Don’t be afraid to apply other social bookmarking options to your visitors, this is also part of the user’s reward.

This can all be done cost effectively, of course, it goes without saying you need a solid content strategy to facilitate my first law of UGC.

“We sought out this new round of funding based upon an accelerated demand from merchants seeking e-commerce solutions that are built for the social graph,” said Wade Gerten, CEO and Founder of 8thBridge. “8thBridge became the pioneer in this new era of social commerce when we opened the first retail store on Facebook for 1-800-Flowers.com and the first Facebook travel store for Delta Air Lines. This new round of funding will allow us to extend our lead in rebuilding e-commerce from the ground up around people instead of pages.”

8thBridge monetizes social media for some of the largest merchants in the world including 1-800-Flowers.com, Lands’ End, Brooks Brothers, Delta Air Lines, Hallmark, HauteLook and the fastest-growing division of Avon called mark.

“The rise of Facebook as the next-generation web platform and of the data encapsulated in the Open Graph enable companies to establish new levels of understanding of and intimacy with their customers,” said Evangelos Simoudis, Managing Director of Trident Capital, who joins 8thBridge’s board of directors. “Companies must learn to effectively utilize social media in general and these resources in particular for marketing and commerce. 8thBridge offers unique solutions to power social commerce.”

“8thBridge has positioned itself as the market leader by providing the most innovative solutions for allowing customers to shop with their friends on Facebook. We expect the demand for social commerce to grow exponentially as more merchants seek to move beyond search and adapt to this platform shift,” said Michael Gorman, Managing Director of Split Rock Partners, 8thBridge board member and investor.

The funding will be used to enhance 8thBridge’s technology platform, 8thBridge StoreCast™, which powers millions of in-stream shopping experiences that include a quick checkout feature inside Facebook’s News Feed and Fan Pages. The store is brought to the customer rather than the other way around. Some of the major people-centric enhancements planned include improving the ability for you to receive highly personalized offers based on interests, providing you and your friends with more ways to take advantage of special social promotions, and making it easier for to receive rewards for advocating on behalf of your favorite merchants.

This new funding round follows the company’s recent name change in January – from Alvenda to 8thBridge. The name 8thBridge is a nod to the company’s pioneering development of social graph-based commerce, stemming from the Seven Bridges of Königsberg, the historical mathematical problem that served as the genesis of Euler’s Graph Theory.

About 8thBridge
8thBridge operates a social commerce platform merchants use to create social shopping experiences for their customers. Customers engage merchants on their own terms in a shopping experience that is portable, personalized, and participatory. Founded in 2008 in Minneapolis MN, 8thBridge is led by executives with domain expertise in e-commerce, direct marketing, and social media. History was made on July 8th, 2009 when Alvenda, currently known as 8thBridge, brought online retail to Facebook and again on August 12, 2010 for the travel industry. The Ticket Counter™ by 8thBridge was named one of the Top Ten Marketer Apps of 2010 by Advertising Age. 8thBridge, was named the grand prize winner of the 2009 Minnesota Cup and has been featured in Advertising Age, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, WWD, Bloomberg TV and TechCrunch. 8thBridge is funded by Split Rock Venture Partners and Trident Capital and is based in Minneapolis, MN. For more information on 8thBridge, visit www.8thbridge.com.

About Trident Capital
Trident Capital is a leading venture capital firm focused on Information Technology investments. Since its founding in 1993, Trident has managed $1.9 billion of capital and has invested in more than 160 companies. Trident’s Information Technology focus includes Enterprise and SaaS Software; Business and Information Services; Consumer Services; and Digital and Social Media. Trident brings to each portfolio company deep sector expertise, a network of relevant industry contacts, and a commitment to apply the full resources of the firm to promote the company’s growth and success. Trident has investment offices in Palo Alto, CA and Westport, CT.

About Split Rock Partners
Split Rock Partners, with offices in Minneapolis and Menlo Park, seeks emerging opportunities in software, Internet services and healthcare, primarily in the Upper Midwest and West Coast. Since 2005, Split Rock has raised $575 million over two funds. Representative software and internet services companies backed by Split Rock’s team include 8thBridge, Amcom, eBureau, Guardian Analytics, HireRight, LowerMyBills.com, MyNewPlace, QuinStreet (Nasdaq: QNST) and SPS Commerce (Nasdaq: SPSC). Additional information about the firm can be found at www.splitrock.com.