Ontogenix is raising the round to go to market with their first product, an Interest Correlation Engine. The technology is designed to increase the relevance of ads presented on social media sites (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, etc.) by targeting users based on their individual interests. The company searches for information on the general public’s interests, attitudes, and opinions on hundreds of publicly available sources such as social networks, blogs, and forums. This information, collected in aggregate to preserve user privacy, is then combined with the company’s proprietary data model to form the basis for a predictive engine that can tell advertisers which ads will have high relevance to different types of users. Source: Ontogenix raises funding from GrowthWorks | StartupNorth

GrowthWorks is a good group.  They do take some decent risks, but betting on social media advertising isn’t that much of a risk really is it?  I wonder if their technology will be able to help improve ads on blogs.  Sure Facebook is hot, and so is MySpace but I want to believe that they are thinking of and working on something more generic.  You have to bet on the technologies on the specific tools to be successful.  Facebook is a tool social media is the technology.

I also hope that we can start pushing the boundaries beyond the standard ads into something more interesting and unique.  What?  I have no idea…maybe Ontogenix does though ;).

Update: Just after hitting publish I saw Rob’s coverage on Techvibes … good read as well

Post from: EveryJoe

Ontogenix aims change the game in social media advertising