Sixth Annual Meeting of Small Publishers Explores the Internet Economy and Upcoming Regulatory Challenges
Washington, DC (June 28, 2014) – Earlier this week, New York City residents Kyle McCarthy and Ron Bozman from Family Travel Forum joined dozens of other small ad-supported Internet Long Tail (“niche”) publishers from across the country for the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Sixth Annual Long Tail Alliance Washington, D.C. “Fly-In.” After a day of workshops with the IAB team at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Long Tail Alliance members visited Capitol Hill, meeting with representatives and staff from the House and Senate to raise awareness of small business concerns about potential interactive advertising regulation from the Federal government.
McCarthy runs the website MyFamilytravels.com from a New York City office, where editors, writers and new media interns program vacation destination content. Freelance employees supported by the company’s online advertising programs extend from writers in several regions to web developers in Connecticut and designers in Georgia. This is the fifth time that she has taken part in the yearly trip to Washington, D.C. and the first visit to Capitol Hill by director of online ventures, Ron Bozman.
“The Internet has enabled the American dream for so many small businesses,” says Bozman, “and we appreciate interest-based online advertising because it supports us while improving the user experience.” He adds, “Parents and grandparents are happy to give up some anonymous data via cookies to get relevant destination information and great travel bargains as they plan summer vacations.”
In addition to meetings with Congressional leaders, the Long Tail publishers attended workshops to learn strategies and best practices for growing their businesses. Amarpeet Singh, Director of Online Partnership Group at Google, stressed the importance of optimizing online resources for mobile devices and shared best practices derived from many of the company’s usability studies. Family Travel Forum, watching mobile users climb to 38% of all visitors last winter, launched its responsive site a few months ago to better serve vacation planners already on the go.
Following sessions on online security, social media, and the current status of Do Not Track regulation both online and via mobile devices’ GPS capability, the IAB’s legal team led by Executive Vice President, Public Policy & General Counsel Mike Zaneis closed the afternoon. At dinner at the stylish new Google headquarters off H Street, Zaneis’ team explained to publishers how their day of lobbying would work.
“What a thrill to exercise our democratic rights,” noted McCarthy after her visit to the office of Senator Schumer of New York. “Explaining what we do and why, and how hard we work to protect our users’ privacy using the IAB’s current self-regulating policies really struck a chord with several legislators.”
About FTF
Family Travel Forum (FTF) is an award-winning media company guiding those who Have Kids, Still Travel!® in print and online since 1996. FTF’s expert and community content has been seen on Disney’s Family.com and other sites, in “The Complete Idiots Guide to the Best Family Destinations,” “Amazing Places to Take Your Kids in North America” and by millions of traveling families. In addition to co-hosting the annual TMS Family Travel Summit and conferences, other FTF ventures include MyFamilyTravels.com; an annual Teen Travel Writing Scholarship with SATW; the “The Family Vacationist” blog and e-alert; and Family Travel Consulting to the trade
About the IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 600 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, DC.
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