Many people believe that the government are watching what they engage in on their phones but what many people don’t realize is that advertisers have access as well. Tracking Pixels are an html code that are loaded when an online user visits a website or any type of online media format. The user on the tracking end of the pixels can use this information to better guide advertisements, email marketing, or anything they chose to do.
A tracking pixel is a graphic, with dimensions of 1x1 pixels that is loaded when an online user visits any online platform. They are designed to be transparent so that it doesn’t stand out to the user but sometimes users do notice when it’s occurring. Some people’s computer and phone screens have small things moving in the background light. For example most senders of email, adds the tracking pixel using a code in the website's HTML code or email. The code contains an external link to the pixel server. There are many things that can be analyzed by the tracking pixel, such as type of website or email used, operating system used, time email was read or website was visited, and even all the activities on the website during a session. There are many pros and cons to this new technology. The cons start with the fact that a lot of people feel this is an invasion of privacy. This tracking is criticized by advocates because you can collect such a large amount of information about a person without their knowledge because it is so unnoticeable. Another problem with tracking is it makes spammers jobs much less difficult. They can move the tracking pixels in their emails in order to find out if an email address is valid. If the mail is opened then it uploads a pixel automatically. The spammer then receives a confirmation and as a result more spam messages are sent. On the other hand there are some pros to this advanced technology. The use of tracking pixels is useful for website operators and advertisers. The information they collect can help improve online offers and constantly adapt the offers for what interest that user on that particular device. So it profits the companies and improves the satisfaction of customers. They can also be beneficial in the analysis of email newsletters because it shows the rate at which people are viewing the sent mail. From the user standpoint it makes ads sent more appealing and relevant because the information is direct tied to your interest. Tracking pixel benefits companies like google analytics because it informs companies how many people have visited their site. Obviously there are two sides to this new idea and you can argue either way. This new concept has become a key part of digital ads success over the past few years, and as technology gets better the evolution of digital ads will continue to grow.
More Info: https://en.ryte.com/wiki/Tracking_Pixel
https://www.eventbrite.com/blog/tracking-pixels-ds00/
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