Root.Net’s “Lead” Market
Michael Arrington
14 comments »
I’m intruiged by Seth Goldstein’s Root.net, the first commercial application of the Attention Trust platform (see my Attention Trust posts here and here).
Seth wrote a lengthy and descriptive post outlining the service for all participants on Transparent Bundles. The core service leverages the Attention Trust Recorder, which can be installed by an internet user (currently firefox only). Root.net calls users “consumers”.
The recorder tracks everything you do with your browser (it can be turned off at will, and root.net allows deletion of data you’ve recorded that you want to remove).
As a consumer you get two primary benefits - the ability to see your own data (see screen shot), and the ability to trade your data to other parties for some benefit - like more targeted advertising that you will actually find useful. This is something John Battelle writes about extensively in his book, by the way.
Publishers can also use the root.net system to generate leads, which can be sold to advertisers. Root.net also has anticipated arbitrage players, which they call “investors”, who will purchase leads from publishers and sell them to advertisers. The goal, of course, is to create a more liquid market.
I understand at least part of how it is intended to work. An internet user clicks on an ad and fills out a form, becoming a lead that is owned by the publisher. These leads can be sold to advertisers and investors in a liquid market
This is a big idea. It will take a lot of pushing to get it off the ground, but if it works it will redefine online advertising and lead generation.
I have been quite interested in /Root.net as well. Here is a link to an article I wrote about it. It includes Seth and Ed’s return comments, if you are interested.
My main issues were with the privacy poliy of /Root.net and the fact the president of Attention Trust.org has yet to install the Firefox extension.
CrittendenIV
You might want that link huh
http://fellaheenradionetwork.com/?p=425
What a garbage technology. I am sure swarms of people are going to run right out and sell their time browsing experience. If anything we want to be left alone by all these jerks who are looking to make a buck off us. If Firefox, adblock, popup blocking and spam filtering isn’t enough of a clue then I these people really need to stop taking their drugs and wake up.
Chris,
I use AdBlock, Firefox with pop-up blocking, spam filtering on my email etc, but I’m still using the Attention recorder and Root.net. Why? Because in this case the user is in control - not the advertiser. You decide whether you want to share your data, and you decide what you want in return for it (approval for a loan, perhaps, or hard cash). And if you don’t want to share your data (and to be honest, I don’t), you can use Root.net as a way to track your browsing behaviour and figure out what’s important to you (RSS feeds and email, by the look of it). So while your skepticism is totally valid, I think it’s important to remember that this whole “attention” concept is about shifting the control to the user. Nonetheless, Root.net is a for-profit - its purpose is to make money, and the game changes considerably when there’s a profit motive involved.
I wrote a more detailed entry on Root.net a few weeks back:
http://mashable.com/2005/11/11.....verything/
Interesting team running the company… http://www.clickz.com/experts/.....hp/3565246
Great concept, but I’m not sure it’s quite ready for prime time.
The tagging functionality needs some serious work. The first book I checked out on Amazon after signing up with Root was John Battelle’s “The Search” per Michael’s suggestion. Now, all of my Amazon traffic is tagged with a topic of “Programming” even when I’ve checked out History or Sociology titles. Most blogs I visit, regardless of topic, are tagged “Internet.” They’d be better off taking a feed from del.icio.us than with the hierarchical taxonomy they’re imposing now.
This isn’t going to be a helpful tool if it get an accurate read on the topic I’m reading about (paging AdSense) and can’t even sniff out the products I’m browing (which you’d think would be the most valuable info).
I like both ideas to create a transparent market for lead based advertising and empowering the user. I’m not for sure if Root.Net’s approach is the right one and it’s the right time, but at least it’s a revolutionary one.
Having worked within the lead market for several years profiting from high arbitrage it would be nice to see users in control of their data which today are often resold again and again.
This is not such a big idea. Besides the fuzzy concept of Attention Trust all the other concepts are as old as the dawn of online marketing. Combining Permission Marketing and Behavioral Targeting, and requiring consumer participation so that they can track their own behavior on the web is abstract and unwanted. People want to spend less time interacting with advertising products and services, not more time. It is called natural selection. Web properties that blend quality content and promote relavant products attract the most users, and deliver online marketing that is permission based and targeted. Large media companies like Yahoo! have been doing this for years, and they already have the attention span of the millions of users you would need to make this somewhat interesting to advertisers.
Root.net is blending tried and true marketing concepts with a Good-Guy veneer while monetizing their operations via a consumer lead trading platform. The only way their abstract concepts work is if Root.net buys massive amounts of media to support their model, which is exactly what they are doing, in which case they do not have a marketplace, but rather a lead generation operation. Have you ever seen a turtle without a shell? It is still at turtle.