ClickZ Experts on Online Advertising Technology: "Reaching the cyborg consumer means recognizing the realities of their lives: always on, always connected, socially engaged, networked, multitasking, consuming multiple media, and actively controlling their lifestyles and connection to information. For marketers, reaching these folks means paying attention to a few key areas:

* Networks. These folks are hooked in to other people. The image of the lone, socially disconnected computer geek is wrong. From eBay and Google Groups to blogs and discussion boards, they're connected. And because they're connected, news travels fast, often through networks that are tough for marketers to control.

Viral marketing taps into this reality (for some great examples, check out ViralMeister ). Recognizing new forms of that communication such as blogs and podcasting have as much effect as 'official' publications is important to tap into this mindset. Don't think of blogs just as a communications outlet for your company. Recognize bloggers in your space are major influencers and should be treated as such. Also recognize that PR efforts are even tougher to control than ever, now that anyone with a Blogger account can become a 'media outlet.' Bad companies have nowhere to hide anymore.

* Lifestyle. The genius of Apple's strategy is it isn't about a product, but a lifestyle. The point of entry may be the iPod, but soon the iPod users uses Apple's iTunes to manage their music, buys music on the iTunes Store (over 1 million songs per day at last count), and, Apple hopes, eventually uses Macs to hook everything together. Whether that will happen remains to be seen, but figuring out how to create a product or service that fits into the cyborg consumer's lifestyle definitely seems to work. Heck, you don't need to be a technology to use this method. Consider the marketing of the Atkins diet if you want another example.

* Control. Connected consumers are partially defined by an ability to control their world. From the music they listen to and the games they play to videos they watch, news they read, and people they talk to, cyborg consumers use technology for control. They like control, and anything that interferes with their sense of control is viewed as bad and dangerous. Just look at spam and spyware if you need examples of how consumers react to marketing efforts that try to take control away. Respecting the need for control and fitting into their lifestyle pays dividends.

* Who, not where. The explosion of mobile connectivity and (as Giesler puts it) 'technotrancendance' through immersive technologies means we need to market to the person, not the place where she happens to be. The Internet blurs the line between work and home, allowing us to conduct personal errands at work and ensuring we're never really away from work. Mobile technology such as cell phones and messaging devices mean we're always connected to our social and business lives, no matter where we are. For marketers, paying attention to targeting the person rather than the person's location (home, work, school, etc.) is increasingly important now that consumers can connect to media pretty much anywhere they want."

I think good marketing departments undertake the above points. Personally, i think the lifestyle factor is the hardest to engage as it is influenced by control, who and not where and networks. Well, we'll see eh!