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Exactly. This study completely ignores the fact that retargeting through the Facebook and Google pixels is highly effective for advertisers. I have run retarge

Exactly. This study completely ignores the fact that retargeting through the Facebook and Google pixels is highly effective for advertisers. I have run retargeting campaigns with ROAS (return on ad spend) as high as 30x. Without the ability to retarget, advertising revenue at both Facebook and Google would plummet. The majority of conversions for advertisers come from retargeting (behavioral) campaigns. Advertisers run cold traffic campaigns (non behavioral) just to be able to cookie a group of users interested in their niche of product or service. They then show a different set of ads to those that clicked on the initial ad and met some behavioral criteria - for example they read to the bottom of the landing page or watched more than 1/2 of a sales video. It is this second set of ads that results in most conversions from new customers. So the entire model falls apart if we lose the ability to run retargeting (behavioral) campaigns. Most advertisers lose money on cold traffic campaigns, and make up for it with behavioral campaigns. When behavioral advertising stops, so does non-behavioral, and the whole Facebook and Google house of cards comes crumbling down in a hurry.

sockpuppet999 7y ago
I'm not sure exactly what I'm reading here but , I'm trying to understand. Please excuse me okay? Im gonna ask you an honest Question and I would like an honest answer okay? How do you feel About using your work to spy on ppl 24 hours a day. How do you feel about that? Do you feel it's okay because of others doing it Do you have Any reservations About this ?? I'm not trying to be An asshole here okay? I'm honestly interested in what you( As an informed person) thinks about these issues?
- travisjungroth 7y ago
  How can you call showing a group of people who clicked on an ad a second ad “spy[ing] on ppl 24 hours a day?”.
  - luckylion 7y ago
    You need to constantly track them to be able to show them ads.
    - downandout 7y ago
      No, you don’t. When I put a Facebook pixel on a landing page, Facebook doesn’t tell me who they are or where else they have been, and I have no idea what they do on any site other than my own. I setup a campaign at Facebook that says “show this ad to everyone that spent more than 30 seconds on my landing page”. Facebook then shows my ad to only to those people if and when they return to Facebook (or Instagram). That is the entire extent of retargeting campaigns. Comments like yours are nothing more than fear mongering. Unless you have installed malware on your computer, nobody is “constantly tracking” you.
      - luckylion 7y ago
        > When I put a Facebook pixel on a landing page, Facebook doesn’t tell me who they are or where else they have been, and I have no idea what they do on any site other than my own. You are not constantly tracking them, Facebook is. I understood the parent comment to be aimed at Facebook, not some individual advertiser.
        downandout 7y ago
        Even Facebook is not "constantly" tracking people. They only track people when they are on Facebook, in one of their apps, or on sites that integrate Facebook's pixel/javascript. Granted, that is alot of places, but it is far cry from "constant" tracking.
        luckylion 7y ago
        That's kind of semantics. Sure, the Staatssicherheitsdienst in East Germany didn't see literally everything (I'm sure they would have, but the technology for widespread cameras just wasn't there - they did have about a quarter million people on payroll, though), but the people were constantly under surveillance. I don't have any numbers on that, but for the average surfer that doesn't actively block tracking, they'll likely be tracked by FB or Google on > 50% of pages they visit. If you're mostly googling and chatting on Facebook, that easily sails past 90%, if you're on more niche content that is anti big-tech/adtech/surveillance, it's very low.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- unreal37 7y ago
  I spent many years of my life working on websites that used ads as a monetization method. I've spent thousands of hours working on projects where the intention is to "show more ads" or "implement more effective ads". To be honest, I wish I spent that time looking for a cure for cancer instead. Or advertising for a cure to cancer. But I don't think showing ads to people is dishonest, a scam, or spying on people.

sockpuppet999 7y ago

I'm not sure exactly what I'm reading here but , I'm trying to understand. Please excuse me okay? Im gonna ask you an honest Question and I would like an honest answer okay? How do you feel About using your work to spy on ppl 24 hours a day. How do you feel about that? Do you feel it's okay because of others doing it Do you have Any reservations About this ?? I'm not trying to be An asshole here okay? I'm honestly interested in what you( As an informed person) thinks about these issues?

travisjungroth 7y ago
How can you call showing a group of people who clicked on an ad a second ad “spy[ing] on ppl 24 hours a day?”.
- luckylion 7y ago
  You need to constantly track them to be able to show them ads.
  - downandout 7y ago
    No, you don’t. When I put a Facebook pixel on a landing page, Facebook doesn’t tell me who they are or where else they have been, and I have no idea what they do on any site other than my own. I setup a campaign at Facebook that says “show this ad to everyone that spent more than 30 seconds on my landing page”. Facebook then shows my ad to only to those people if and when they return to Facebook (or Instagram). That is the entire extent of retargeting campaigns. Comments like yours are nothing more than fear mongering. Unless you have installed malware on your computer, nobody is “constantly tracking” you.
    - luckylion 7y ago
      > When I put a Facebook pixel on a landing page, Facebook doesn’t tell me who they are or where else they have been, and I have no idea what they do on any site other than my own. You are not constantly tracking them, Facebook is. I understood the parent comment to be aimed at Facebook, not some individual advertiser.
      - downandout 7y ago
        Even Facebook is not "constantly" tracking people. They only track people when they are on Facebook, in one of their apps, or on sites that integrate Facebook's pixel/javascript. Granted, that is alot of places, but it is far cry from "constant" tracking.
        luckylion 7y ago
        That's kind of semantics. Sure, the Staatssicherheitsdienst in East Germany didn't see literally everything (I'm sure they would have, but the technology for widespread cameras just wasn't there - they did have about a quarter million people on payroll, though), but the people were constantly under surveillance. I don't have any numbers on that, but for the average surfer that doesn't actively block tracking, they'll likely be tracked by FB or Google on > 50% of pages they visit. If you're mostly googling and chatting on Facebook, that easily sails past 90%, if you're on more niche content that is anti big-tech/adtech/surveillance, it's very low.
deleted 7y ago
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unreal37 7y ago
I spent many years of my life working on websites that used ads as a monetization method. I've spent thousands of hours working on projects where the intention is to "show more ads" or "implement more effective ads". To be honest, I wish I spent that time looking for a cure for cancer instead. Or advertising for a cure to cancer. But I don't think showing ads to people is dishonest, a scam, or spying on people.