Google has submitted its answer to the music subscription equation with Google Music All Access. Claiming to be “Radio Without Rules” it allows users to preview full playlists, rearrange and swap songs in advance. The service also boasts a powerful “Listen Now” feature that decides what to play for you based on personal preferences. Is music subscription really the future of music consumption? Google Music All Access is a paid service like Rdio. It will be interesting to see how this industry evolves and what new movers enter. Is having an ad-based free option an essential driver or will people come around to paying a monthly fee to access music any and everywhere?

AdAge recently published an article noting the success of Facebook’s FBX Exchange which is a real-time bidding platform that allows advertisers to see the behaviors of users to populate relevant ads in real-time. The success of FBX Exchange attests to the importance of behavioral data over social data. AdAge calls social data worthless to advertisers. I wouldn’t take it that far but I definitely see the point.

The fact is people share a limited amount of information publicly via social media and a lot of people list information that is not accurate. I have a number of friends that claim to live somewhere they don’t actually live or say that they are married when they are not, etc. People don’t take social profiles too seriously especially not on Facebook. Therefore, the best way to understand what a user is looking for or interested in is by knowing their behavior online. The social data can in many ways supplement this by profiling someone’s gender or age group but behavioral data is surely king when it comes to targeting online. It’s how Google built its empire beginning with search and it’s how Amazon is able to sustain a $500 million advertising business on top of its e-commerce offerings.

Analyzing behavior is precisely the advantage of the Internet versus traditional forms of media such as television, print and radio where there is no interaction taking place. Therefore it is about time that advertisers take notice but do so in a way that doesn’t raise concerns about privacy. After all, it benefits both user and advertiser because people would much rather see an ad that is relevant to them and their needs and advertisers want as much ROI as possible.

I recently read an article on Fast Company about how it’s increasingly important for brands to be real and honest. As we all know technology, the Internet and social media has leveled the playing field in terms of communication. Information is at everyone’s fingertips and any missteps of a corporation can be easily found by the public. Additionally, consumers have more choices than ever so brands need to mean something that matters to their target. “Consumers are starved for a new type of corporate engagement, a new form of capitalism. We are realizing that there is little correlation between owning “stuff” and being happy. We are eager to shop with values, and to support brands that actually stand for something other than product and bottom line.” We are facing a shift in society where we need to see progress and changes for the better. We have witnessed how damaging corporate greed is and how many people have suffered at the hands of it. Brands now have the choice to continue practices that deceive the public or be real and transparently work to be better. It is to their advantage to subscribe to the latter because with the world more connected than ever the truth is bound to surface so for once being good is actually better for profits.