Google AdWords service is testing a feature for advertisers to use “demographic bidding.” This means that you can specify that your ads will only be shown to, say, women over the age of 55. Or perhaps you have an online store for men’s clothing, then you can target only men. You can also specifically exclude a certain group.
Google say they know how to target these ads because certain social networks ask their users for details such as age and gender, which are then apparently shared with Google “on a non-personally identifiable basis.” Sites like MySpace, Friendster, HotOrNot and Flirtbox are part of the Beta test. Google in their news adds that “AdWords receives this data only from publishers that have permission from users to share their data according to the site’s terms and conditions,” and disclaims that “to protect the privacy of minors, users under 18 can’t be targeted demographically.”