7 ms·

The problem is that most ads suck. Facebook knows more about me than I do, but they can't come up with ads for things I want. What possible chance does a random

by tomjen3 10y ago

The problem is that most ads suck. Facebook knows more about me than I do, but they can't come up with ads for things I want. What possible chance does a random newspaper have?

monochromatic 10y ago
Even google's ads are garbage, and google should be able to read my mind by now. The closest they ever come to showing me something I might want is the occasional ad for something I recently did buy. Swing and a miss.
zeta0134 10y ago
I've always been baffled by this race to target ads to me directly. Sure, you can get a general idea of my interests, but even those change throughout the day, and advertising something to me on Facebook that you gleaned from my GPS or my contact list just creeps me out. It has the reverse effect; I'll go out of my way to block it out. No, I remain convinced that the most effective advertising I see regularly is the "Deals" type posts on Gizmodo. Those are written by the journalists, guaranteed to capture some of my interests or I wouldn't've visited the site in the first place, and difficult to block because they're real content. I actually read them, and am usually genuinely interested in the products, and this requires no tracking or privacy invasion whatsoever to accomplish.
pascalxus 10y ago
I completely agree. 99.99% of the ads I see on facebook are for things I don't want. They really need to get more AI and more information about the user for better targeting. They may have world class targeting, but it still sucks compared to advertisement that can read my mind (doesn't exist yet).
- confounded 10y ago
  Advertisements are supposed to change your mind. The advantage that FB have is that they control many of the other inputs to your mind outside the ad, too.
- pdkl95 10y ago
  A common misconception is that targeting is about your interests. An AI won't select ads for things you want. Instead, it will use all of that tracking data to select ads that are more effective at misleading you or changing your interests.
  - tomjen3 10y ago
    What is easiest? Sell me things that I already want but don't know about, or changing my interests and then convince me to buy a particular product? Incidentally 5 years after moving into an apartment I still need a good curtain for the kitchen. If I see an ad for a place I can upload measurements and get the results sent to me I would be very happy to pay.
  - pascalxus 10y ago
    Good point. That might be the most effective strategy for most people, but it doesn't work on me.

by tomjen3 10y ago

The problem is that most ads suck. Facebook knows more about me than I do, but they can't come up with ads for things I want. What possible chance does a random newspaper have?

monochromatic 10y ago

Even google's ads are garbage, and google should be able to read my mind by now. The closest they ever come to showing me something I might want is the occasional ad for something I recently did buy. Swing and a miss.

zeta0134 10y ago

I've always been baffled by this race to target ads to me directly. Sure, you can get a general idea of my interests, but even those change throughout the day, and advertising something to me on Facebook that you gleaned from my GPS or my contact list just creeps me out. It has the reverse effect; I'll go out of my way to block it out. No, I remain convinced that the most effective advertising I see regularly is the "Deals" type posts on Gizmodo. Those are written by the journalists, guaranteed to capture some of my interests or I wouldn't've visited the site in the first place, and difficult to block because they're real content. I actually read them, and am usually genuinely interested in the products, and this requires no tracking or privacy invasion whatsoever to accomplish.

pascalxus 10y ago

I completely agree. 99.99% of the ads I see on facebook are for things I don't want. They really need to get more AI and more information about the user for better targeting. They may have world class targeting, but it still sucks compared to advertisement that can read my mind (doesn't exist yet).

confounded 10y ago
Advertisements are supposed to change your mind. The advantage that FB have is that they control many of the other inputs to your mind outside the ad, too.
pdkl95 10y ago
A common misconception is that targeting is about your interests. An AI won't select ads for things you want. Instead, it will use all of that tracking data to select ads that are more effective at misleading you or changing your interests.
- tomjen3 10y ago
  What is easiest? Sell me things that I already want but don't know about, or changing my interests and then convince me to buy a particular product? Incidentally 5 years after moving into an apartment I still need a good curtain for the kitchen. If I see an ad for a place I can upload measurements and get the results sent to me I would be very happy to pay.
- pascalxus 10y ago
  Good point. That might be the most effective strategy for most people, but it doesn't work on me.