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Interest can be inferred from context instead of your history and contextual targeting is in fact more efficient and doesn’t violate anyone’s privacy. For exa

Interest can be inferred from context instead of your history and contextual targeting is in fact more efficient and doesn’t violate anyone’s privacy. For example most ads shown by Google Search are based on the search keywords, since that’s what most advertisers bid on and not a user profile. Google’s great advantage in this space is that a search shows clear intent, clear need. I once worked on a platform for serving ads in mobile apps. The apps themselves can be pretty clear signals of intent. A weight loss app for example can serve ads for gym or diet-friendly restaurants with great success. Similarly for publications. I can imagine articles on politics don’t have valuable context, unless the elections are coming, however howto articles or articles on home and garden or various hobbies have great context. Btw, I never click on ads. If personalization was meant to save costs you’d think these ads companies would have learned to not serve me any ads. Truth of the matter is that personalization has less to do with cost savings and more to do with optimizing the message for better conversions. And that’s what I find unethical ... the use of personal data to personalize a message in order to make me buy a product that I normally don’t want to buy.

pnw_hazor 8y ago
Even if you don't interact with an ad they still deliver their payload right to your brainbox.
- bad_user 8y ago
  Indeed, that’s how TV advertising works, however we’re talking about brand advertising right now, as in ads made to make you remember the brand the next time you’re presented with a choice, like in a supermarket. Thing is you don’t need personalization for this to work and it can be counterproductive. Because these ads are designed to make the customers remember the brand in the future, when they’ll need it and not to fulfill an immediate need. Ads companies doing personalization try to paint their algorithms as having better conversions, however measuring the impact of brand advertising is really difficult due to the deferred effect and all you can do is to make educated guesses. And for the labels in a supermarket for example, which is the vast majority of brand advertising, you don’t need any personalization. Personalization is meant for the long tail. Like those shitty commercials on FB trying to sell you indestructible iPhone cases or shitty apps that help you exercise your brain. Or miracle cures to diabetes, if you were uninspired enough to join an FB group on such topics. Such ads do not benefit just from being seen. If you don’t click on them, the opportunity for the advertiser is gone.
chrischen 8y ago
While relevant, the stuff pushed by ads are almost always inferior to organic results.

pnw_hazor 8y ago

Even if you don't interact with an ad they still deliver their payload right to your brainbox.

bad_user 8y ago
Indeed, that’s how TV advertising works, however we’re talking about brand advertising right now, as in ads made to make you remember the brand the next time you’re presented with a choice, like in a supermarket. Thing is you don’t need personalization for this to work and it can be counterproductive. Because these ads are designed to make the customers remember the brand in the future, when they’ll need it and not to fulfill an immediate need. Ads companies doing personalization try to paint their algorithms as having better conversions, however measuring the impact of brand advertising is really difficult due to the deferred effect and all you can do is to make educated guesses. And for the labels in a supermarket for example, which is the vast majority of brand advertising, you don’t need any personalization. Personalization is meant for the long tail. Like those shitty commercials on FB trying to sell you indestructible iPhone cases or shitty apps that help you exercise your brain. Or miracle cures to diabetes, if you were uninspired enough to join an FB group on such topics. Such ads do not benefit just from being seen. If you don’t click on them, the opportunity for the advertiser is gone.

chrischen 8y ago

While relevant, the stuff pushed by ads are almost always inferior to organic results.