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Some data instead of "I have a friend who..." anecdotal evidence would be nice. The author doesn't make a very strong claim as to why facebook ads don't work wh

by mixmax 17y ago

Some data instead of "I have a friend who..." anecdotal evidence would be nice. The author doesn't make a very strong claim as to why facebook ads don't work which is the whole premise of the article.

mnemonicsloth 17y ago
Skepticism is always healthy, but being more skeptical of some than of others is the same as being biased. The comments I saw about Facebook's big plan came in two flavors. Some said "Facebook is getting creepy. I want my privacy." The rest said "this will be awesome, you'll see." This guy is saying, "yeah, but will they be able to execute?" You don't need data to ask that question, and we all need to know the answer.
rabidgnat 17y ago
I lightly approve of anecdotal posts like these. Facebook controls all of the data needed to make informed decisions, and they're not going to share if the OP's claims are accurate. Lots of bad press about CPM and cost/click will force Facebook to publish data proving the worth of getting Facebook ads that transcend the 'case study' nonsense. If they continually ignore lots of bad press, that's a big tell that the only party that benefits is Facebook, even though it's not a smoking gun. I've taken this approach with PayPal. I'd use them for person-to-person finances, but I've heard so many small-business horror stories that I'd invest the time to make a merchant account if I made a startup. It's not exactly scientific, but PayPal's not exactly flooding the market with data either
- mixmax 17y ago
  Excellent point.
- ErrantX 17y ago
  I agree for the most part. The only problem I see in this post is that it mentions one specific form of ad (and one example) and then vaguely expands it to cover all forms. It should be immediately obvious that the specific example mentioned is going to have a very poor ROI. Who sells on Facebook?
codyrobbins 17y ago
It's possible that they do not even realize that they are like a Ponzi scheme. That's right, they may not even realize that their ad platform is completely useless because they always get new clients signing up and giving up their offering to the god of web 2.0 hype. They may be blind, as I used to be. They may be truly surprised when the supply of suckers runs dry. And does this guy really think that Facebook is incapable or unwilling of running projections on a key revenue indicator like their ad buys? An intern with a spreadsheet would be able to look at their internal data and realize that all their ad buyers are falling off a ledge and never returning.

by mixmax 17y ago

mnemonicsloth 17y ago

Skepticism is always healthy, but being more skeptical of some than of others is the same as being biased. The comments I saw about Facebook's big plan came in two flavors. Some said "Facebook is getting creepy. I want my privacy." The rest said "this will be awesome, you'll see." This guy is saying, "yeah, but will they be able to execute?" You don't need data to ask that question, and we all need to know the answer.

rabidgnat 17y ago

I lightly approve of anecdotal posts like these. Facebook controls all of the data needed to make informed decisions, and they're not going to share if the OP's claims are accurate. Lots of bad press about CPM and cost/click will force Facebook to publish data proving the worth of getting Facebook ads that transcend the 'case study' nonsense. If they continually ignore lots of bad press, that's a big tell that the only party that benefits is Facebook, even though it's not a smoking gun. I've taken this approach with PayPal. I'd use them for person-to-person finances, but I've heard so many small-business horror stories that I'd invest the time to make a merchant account if I made a startup. It's not exactly scientific, but PayPal's not exactly flooding the market with data either

mixmax 17y ago
Excellent point.
ErrantX 17y ago
I agree for the most part. The only problem I see in this post is that it mentions one specific form of ad (and one example) and then vaguely expands it to cover all forms. It should be immediately obvious that the specific example mentioned is going to have a very poor ROI. Who sells on Facebook?

codyrobbins 17y ago

It's possible that they do not even realize that they are like a Ponzi scheme. That's right, they may not even realize that their ad platform is completely useless because they always get new clients signing up and giving up their offering to the god of web 2.0 hype. They may be blind, as I used to be. They may be truly surprised when the supply of suckers runs dry. And does this guy really think that Facebook is incapable or unwilling of running projections on a key revenue indicator like their ad buys? An intern with a spreadsheet would be able to look at their internal data and realize that all their ad buyers are falling off a ledge and never returning.