December 8, 2009
Why Am I The Only One That Thinks Tracking202 Sold Out It’s Customers?
6/8/2010 UPDATE with great news!!!! Read it here!
OK, it has been a few weeks and the news has kind of died down a little about Tracking202 being bought by Bloosky. I’m a pretty avid reader of Affbuzz.com and noticed post after post of people congratulating Wes on the acquisition. Seriously, great for Wes and well deserved.
Honestly, I had never heard of Bloosky before so I Googled them. Turns out they are a huge advertising firm. What? Yes, a huge PPC and online advertising firm bought Tracking202.
Really? Yes. It was shocking to me. After all the time Wes spent smoothing over the industry and promoting the 202 products, he’s pretty much gone and done the one thing he could have to destroy industry trust. Sold out to a huge marketing firm.
So the real question is… Why would a marketing firm want to buy a hosted tracking application? Duh, a lot of freaking data. That’s right! So, if you are a Tracking202 customer, Bloosky (aka your competitor) now has your campaign information.
I still think the 202 products are great, but in my opinion the risk of using them far outweighs the benefit. You can make your own decision.
Written by: brian
Filed Under: Affiliate Marketing
Trackback URL: http://slingblog.com/2009/12/why-am-i-the-only-one-that-thinks-tracking202-sold-out-its-customers/trackback/
Comments
Trackbacks
- SlingBlog.com » Tracking202 Has Bought Back It’s Customers 06-08-2010 at 5:52 pm
Steven
December 9, 2009 at 7:57 am
Hi Brian,
I think you have it all wrong. I’m sure you tried and did your due diligence to some degree prior to writing this post but I believe you also have them all wrong. Bloosky is not an advertising firm. They are an advertiser but that is irrelevant. At this moment, I think you’re assuming they’re going to abuse the data and if that had been the vibe Wes and I got, we would have never sold. This isn’t the first time someone has approached us and I am hoping you sincerely trust in us to make the right choice in regards to something that would affect so many people, or at least have some faith.
Even if you don’t because you may not know us personally, for the longest time, we’ve had Prosper202 available. It’s open source and anyone who is worried about their data always had the option to use the self-hosted version. With that said, I’m unsure as to where the concern is if the self-hosted version is still free, open-source, and we’re still doing everything we can to continue to innovate on that end. Nothing has changed on that forefront. And neither we nor Bloosky have any intention of doing so in regards to this.
By all means everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I’m sure you have your own reasons for this post as well. I just hope that you at least give them a chance to prove their not a scammy company trying to steal people’s data and giving us the benefit of the doubt prior to just accusing Bloosky of being bad people. If we sincerely believed that, we honestly would not have done the deal.
Kindly,
Steven
Ryan
December 9, 2009 at 1:12 pm
You’re wrong, you just don’t understand business. Not our problem. Do you really think life is free and all about standing behind your product? lol…or are you p.o’d that you cant make your millions off somebody elses free hard work…
brian
December 9, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hi Steven, I did use Prosper at one point and it is a great product. Probably the best free tracker out there.
Giving things the benefit of doubt…Why would an advertiser buy a paid tracking application service if it is not for the data?
Also, I never accused Bloosky of being bad people. From the outside looking in, it appears that an advertiser bought out a tracking application. If anything it is genius on the behalf of Bloosky.
brian
December 9, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Ryan, I fully understand business. At some point everyone needs to profit and grow. The merger allows 202 that ability.
No, things in life do not come free. But, yes I do believe it is about standing behind your product. Why build it if you can’t stand behind it? That’s old school business 101.
Totally not p.o’d about it. I am really happy from a business perspective for the 202 team. In all seriousness I am. They deserve the growth and reward.
However, I do think they should allow those that want to back out of the system the ability to delete all of their data prior to the merger.
As an affiliate, you are only as good as your campaigns. The security of that data directly effects your income. If your landing pages and campaign traffic sources leak, that hurts you as an affiliate.
The last thing in the world I would do is use a tracking system that an advertiser owns.
Lastly, I don’t need someone else’s app to make my money and I love to see other people succeed. This is a huge business and everyone can go claim their piece of the pie. The key being going and getting it which means you have to work for it. Anyone that knows me, knows that I expect nothing from other people and I’ve worked for 100% of the things that I have and to be where I am at.
Ex-202 Fan
December 9, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I am glad finally someone took their head out of their *** (edited by brian, I don’t cuss on my blog lol) and paid attention to what happened. I for one expected a HUGE backlash after the buyout, instead got welcomed with all the congratulatory BS posts.
Thanks for standing up and raising some concern.
202 is THE GOOGLE of affiliate marketing. “Don’t Be Evil” to gain trust, meanwhile releasing product after product (prox202, stats202, offers202, etc) all aimed at chipping away at the market share and gaining competitive intelligence at a level never seen before in our industry.
Now that they are in someone else’s hands it is the same thing as when Google went public… their motto can’t be trusted since the interest is no longer in the founder’s hands.
Ryan
December 9, 2009 at 4:32 pm
cool. then I agree with your post
Ryan
December 9, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Lastly – 202 won’t screw anybody over. Like Steven said…get the self hosted version. Good job Steven! Rock on man and have a great time in the new world of 202
Steven
December 9, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your response, I truly appreciate it. As an advertiser, with a strong capability to create and bring in offers (they average 60-100 offers a week; honestly that’s a lot even for majority of networks out there), the one thing you want most is reach. Aside from data, Tracking202 provides a key value that any advertiser would want, branding and a large publisher base. My honest take is Bloosky saw it the way we did, by combining a strong advertising arm with a strong publishing arm, you can complete the circle. They are able to fund campaigns publishers need that we couldn’t and also help provide additional resources for us to continue growing the innovation we have tried to build with all the software, while trying to gain traction on their business by building up a powerful network.
They did have their own network prior to acquiring us known as BlooAds. But without the strong publisher base and branding, growing the network without key differentiator from the other major networks on the field, there really isn’t much value they could provide. Acquiring Tracking202 help fulfilled that gap. That is a huge part, although not all the reasons, why it would make sense for them to want to add Tracking202 to their current assets I hope that helps.
@Ex-202 Fan
My sincere apologies you feel that way. While the company may no longer be in our hands per say, I genuinely believe they are in good hands moving forward. Wes and I are still here to ensure that the value and foundation we built will remain a large component moving forward. I don’t know what else to say. We’ve bootstrapped this thing hardcore and done everything we could to ensure protection of the data and never abused it in any way. With Bloosky, we’re ensuring the same policy is in place and now that the acquisition has already occurred, by all means they could have abused the data as well if that was their intention but they’re not. They’re working with us hard to strategize the next step and figuring out ways to make things better for publishers everywhere.At the end of the day, everyone is entitled to their own opinions but I hope you at least give them some time to prove they’re not shady.
Kindly,
Steven
brian
December 9, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Steven, thank you so much for commenting with some really good information. I can see how it would be a win/win for both companies.
But, as an affiliate I need some separation between advertiser, network and tracking.
Go enjoy some of the fruits from all the labor it has taken over the years!
Ex-202 Fan
December 10, 2009 at 12:25 am
@ Steven
I give you guys six months before something shady goes down and your users will bail. Any company that can create shady ass Goog Bizzops like the company you are currently working with cannot be trusted.
Enjoy your new found riches, just don’t forget the people who trusted you to get you to where you are.
Oh wait you already let them down.
Steven
December 10, 2009 at 8:13 am
@Brian,
I understand and realize that everyone has their own comfort level, and I can definitely respect that. I hope things work out for the best for you =]
@Ex-202 Fan
I understand your point as well and realize there are a lot of speculations and doubts. I do realize there are people unhappy with the deal and I don’t blame anyone for feeling the way they do. I do appreciate everyone’s support from beginning till now. I apologize if we did let you down or if I had let you down personally in anyway. All I can say is we did what we believe is best beyond any monetary value.
Christian
June 4, 2010 at 7:18 am
This is an interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
brian
June 8, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Congrats on getting the company back. Looking forward to seeing it start growing again.