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Experiment finds under 1 in 10 people can tell sponsored content from articles
- mtnGoat 8y agoNot overly surprising, these media outlets aren't trying to make it easy to tell the difference. Rather they are doing the bare minimum so they can claim they're trying, to stave off regulation.
- elektor 8y agoThis is great news for corporate sponsors and bad news for the average consumer. It used to be easy to block ads when they were simple banner ads. Nowadays, these ads are injected directly into the newsfeeds of these newspapers.
- news_is_over 8y agoI’m quickly arriving at the conclusion that there is no longer anything that resembles “news” anymore. Media is so mutated by technology, and unrepentantly and blatantly biased, that we’ve reached a point of inversion where technology now more frequently obscures information, instead of surfacing it. It’s funny that we’re reaching a moment where a tool invented to solve a problem plays an active role in creating the problem. Initially we solved informtion overload with search indexing, but it’s not about overload anymore. Now it’s about poisoning all sources.
- whatshisface 8y ago>Media is so mutated by technology, and unrepentantly and blatantly biased, that we’ve reached a point of inversion where technology now more frequently obscures information, instead of surfacing it. There's no clear evidence that the media was better before the internet. If anything, the internet has connected people together so that they can realize that the media isn't working for them.
- pixl97 8y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- kwhitefoot 8y agoThe Shell example is a clear example of deliberately concealing the fact that it is advertising/sponsored content. If a print newspaper did the same there would be an outcry (in some parts of the world at least).
- grifball 8y agoI found the ad they were talking about on multiple websites and they don't have advertising disclosures: https://www.vt-world.com/americas-smartphone-obsession-extends-to-mobile-banking.html https://www.vt-world.com/americas-smartphone-obsession-exten... This one says it's from AP: https://newsok.com/article/feed/865832/americas-smartphone-obsession-extends-to-mobile-banking https://newsok.com/article/feed/865832/americas-smartphone-o... this one is similar (probably same campaign): https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150629005126/en/Perpetually-Plugged-America%E2%80%99s-Smartphone-Obsession-Continues-Admit https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150629005126/en/Per...
- userbinator 8y agoAfter reading both the article and that ad, I suspect the reason is because it doesn't resemble any sort of "ad" in the traditional sense --- yes, it's "sponsored content", but I don't see it trying to actually sell me anything.
- grifball 8y agoI just thought it was weird because the HN article says that a disclosure is required by the FTC. The BoA article has the same title so I assume it's the article they were talking about.
- jarfil 8y agoThis is why I like news aggregators like HN, Reddit, Slashdot, etc. Even if I happen to be the 9 in 10 regarding some article, the 1 in 10 will usually be quite vocal in the comments.
- EasyTiger_ 8y agoReddit is an absolute shithole now. I've never seen a website fall from grace so quickly, not even Digg.
- taurath 8y agoWith the redesign and their further forcing of it on users with the giant text and ads all over, it’s tipping away from even tolerable now - looking for the next minimalist aggregator (HN too specific)
- Simon_says 8y agoI use an addon to always redirect to the old.reddit.com and ublock to aggressively block divs that are for advertiser's benefit rather than mine. Along with RES, it makes for a pretty nice experience. The only real downside is that once subs get large enough they invariably turn to shit.
- elektor 8y agoTheres a new Reddit alternative that's open source, Tildes. https://blog.tildes.net/announcing-tildes https://blog.tildes.net/announcing-tildes I've been on it for a few months and would recommend it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- petermcneeley 8y agoWhats more insidious is the articles that dont get written or editorials that dont appear due to the influence of advertisers. (ie Manufacturing Consent)
- lettergram 8y agoI actually wrote a little application which mitigates this: https://lettergram.net/ https://lettergram.net/ Basically, you follow topics and it sends you relevant material that has been vetted. You can get it on a monthly, weeekly, daily, or real-time basis. Overall, I think this is essentially the “end” (if there ever was a beginning) of an informed population.
- jammygit 8y agoHow is it vetted?
- lettergram 8y agoIt’s auto curated, but we use the metacortex platform our company built. That works by ranking experts in related fields and then ranking content they discuss accordingly. It works extremely well, and some of our data sources include hacker news and reddit. As such you can see it in action: https://hnprofile.com/ https://hnprofile.com/
- jammygit 8y agoReasonable results from a few queries, well done!
- jammygit 8y agoI realized halfway through reading the article that I had not checked for a 'sponsored by' disclaimer. I rarely do unless an article feels 'off'. Hmm...
- Wuzzy2 8y agoPlot twist: The article is sponsored content, too. --- Thank you, dear Hacker News customer, for reading this comment. This comment has been presented to you by MyGoogleBookAmazonPlusSpaceCloud (TM)(C)(R).
- Wuzzy2 8y agoFor serious now: I think the whole idea of “native advertising” just shows how rotten the whole advertising industry has come. They are completely morally bankrupt and have zero human decency. Even the term “native advertising” is an euphemism. In my opinion, this stuff is outright fraud. Why is this still tolerated? Why haven't those people been chased out of Internet Town with virtual torches and pitchforks?
- zepto 8y agoIsn’t this just native advertising working as designed?
- antisthenes 8y agoDoes anyone else feel like Google search is now at least 60% sponsored content within the first 50 entries? And that's with adblock enabled. Now I don't mind being targeted with relevant stuff when it's appropriate, but when I'm looking for DIY tutorials, the last thing I want is sponsored content peddling cheaply made Chinese goods to me.
- chrismcb 8y ago"under 1 in 10?" What kind of metric is that? Why not say the number out of 100? Or in a percentage? And what is it? 1 in a hundred? 9 in a hundred? 1 in a thousand?
- anotheryou 8y agoI doubt there as a clear line between ad and non-ad so it makes sense that for some sample you get these numbers.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]