Web visitors tossing cookies
Web analysis company WebTrends says that blocking cookies has increased fourfold since January of last year. That may sound like good news for consumers--no more Big Brother watching what you're doing or bothering you with ads you don't care about.
The ironic point is that, when used correctly, cookies can be helpful--they can give companies a better sense of what's important to site visitors and allow them to present visitors with more pertinent information.
The increase in the cookie blocking trend comes partly as a result of new browsers that allow visitors to set blocking as a feature or to delete them more easily.
WebTrends' latest version of its software--version 7.5, to be released in the first part of June and to be announced on Monday--allows companies who want to use cookies to serve up more useful content to prevent these blocking tactics.
It doesn't sound right, but sometimes cookies can be good for you.