It was the SES show in Chicago last December. Not surprisingly, by the time the conference was over it was freezing cold and snowing sideways. Welcome to Chicago! I had just come from listening to the last session of the three day event, “The Click Fraud Debate”. The panel included moderator Jeff Rohrs, John Slade from Yahoo!, Jessie Stricchiola, Lori Weiman and Shuman Ghosemajumder of Google. It would be an understatement to say the discussion was lively! I went up and met Shuman after the panel and we exchanged cards.
I left the conference room ran upstairs to change into the warmest clothes I could find (jeans and my MIT sweatshirt). I flew downstairs to jump in the car service to head off through the blinding snow to O’Hare. Much to my surprise there was Shuman trying to hail a cab to the airport. (Don’t ask me why a $6B company makes their executives take taxicabs to the airport, but that seems to be the case~)
Shuman (an MIT alum) noticed my sweatshirt and we began chatting. I offered him a ride to the airport and so off we went through the snow hoping to make our flights out. So there we were… the guy that has been handling the click fraud conundrum for Google locked in a car with and the president of a click fraud detection company. Small world, huh? He strikes me as sincere and I have felt from the beginning that Google probably does have good intentions relating to click fraud.
This chance car ride was the beginning of an ongoing dialogue. At our last meeting in San Francisco, we spent a great deal of time discussing things our companies agree on. Somewhat surprisingly, it is a long list. I believe eventually all the major search providers will open up to a third party solution for this growing problem. It is inevitable and simply the right thing to do. Becky Quick from CNBC keeps asking me when this will occur and who I think will be first. I have no idea… but while Click Forensics patiently builds our company, online advertisers (including our API beta testers) seem to be growing more impatient.
I am not expecting snow at SES in San Jose this week. I am expecting another lively discussion tomorrow as I sit with Shuman on the click fraud panel. And Shuman, if at the end of day you need a lift, I am here! As a matter of fact, you can rest assured that we are not going anywhere. Have car, will travel. Have algorithm, will catch click fraud~
Tom