Why Pinterest Is Going To Start Tracking Users
"So if you’re planning a party and have gone to lots of party sites recently, we’ll try to suggest boards to make your event a hit," Pinterest explains on its blog.
Users can always click "Unfollow Boards" to stop seeing balloon arrangements.
While this is a relatively benign use of Pinterest's data and tracking capabilities, Ad Age notes that it shows a huge potential for what's down the road for the company's ad business.
Cotton Delo writes, "Pinterest could conceivably have a retargeting business where it sells 'promoted pins' to a retailer like Gap that wants to get items that Pinterest users looked at on its website in front of them again while they're browsing the social network."
It could even build an ad network.
But do consumers respond well to "personalized" experiences if that means tracking?
The digital ad community and browser makers have been at war for almost two years about standardizing "Do Not Track" policies across the board.
Not wanting to make any enemies, Pinterest assured users that "we also understand if you're not interested," reaffirming its support of Do Not Track and reminding users that they can always change their account settings.