EU Cookie Law

A new EU online privacy law will come into effect from 26th May 2012. This will directly affect many websites across the UK, as it requires all website owners to make sure that it is clear to users if cookies will be loaded onto their computer.

Cookies may be used for a variety of reasons, from simple tasks such as remembering login details for the website, through to tracking the journey of consumers throughout the site using tools such as Google Analytics. Online advertising is often heavily reliant on cookies, as this may require using a tracking cookie which is used when retargeting or tracking the path to a sale.

The official guidelines state that appropriate action must be taken to inform consumers according to what cookies you have in place. AdConnection would strongly recommend running a ‘cookie audit’ on your website in order to understand these and exactly how these are used. There are many free tools you can use to do this yourself; in most cases there is no need to pay for an external company to take care of this for you. 

For more information on the classification of cookies and guidelines on what steps to take towards compliance, AdConnection would recommend reading The International Chamber of Commerce Guide to Cookies.

All of the external networks and websites we use at AdConnection are IAB certified and sign up to the Good Practice Framework, from which consumers are able to opt out of advertising.

In reality, this law is going to be extremely difficult for the EU to police. As long as you are taking positive steps towards informing users about cookies used on your site then it is unlikely any sanctions will come in to force. Adconnection would suggest updating your privacy policy at the very least, but if you are advertising it is important for your website to still be cookie adherent so consumer journeys can still be tracked from advert exposure to conversion.

If you are keen to talk to someone about cookie law and how this may affect your website, particularly from an advertising point of view, then feel free to give us a call on 0207 401 4830.

Facebook Buy Mobile App Glancee

Facebook have been on another spending spree, although this latest move will not raise as many eyebrows as the acquisition of Instagram. The target this time is another mobile app – the location based app Glancee . 

Glancee has been described as a ‘Foursquare for people’, working by using your location to inform you when friends or people who share a common interest with you are nearby.


Whilst not being of the same scale as the Instagram purchase, it does further illustrate Facebook’s desire to prosper in the mobile space. It is currently unclear if Facebook have bought the company to make use of the app or the skillset in the team behind the company, as was the case with the company’s purchase of Gowalla.


Glancee has been downloaded around 30,000 times and has around 20,000 users. It created a lot of buzz at SXSW earlier this year, along with its rival Highlight.


There are few details available about the deal other than a short statement on the Glancee website as follows;


“We started Glancee in 2010 with the goal of bringing together the best of your physical and digital worlds. We wanted to make it easy to discover the hidden connections around you, and to meet interesting people. Since then Glancee has connected thousands of people, empowering serendipity and pioneering social discovery. We are therefore very excited to announce that Facebook has acquired Glancee and that we have joined the team in Menlo Park to build great products for over 900 million Facebook users.”