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>What's more, people continually click on them, which implies that they are getting some sort of benefit from them. How do you go from "people exhibit this beh

by ABCLAW 7y ago

>What's more, people continually click on them, which implies that they are getting some sort of benefit from them. How do you go from "people exhibit this behaviour" to "this behaviour provides them some benefit"? Most of the ads are hyper-targetted to psychological weaknesses we have in the same way that drugs hijack our reward pathways.

troyvit 7y ago
Heheheh I know we spend a lot of money trying to make that happen but from where I sit we're not that good at it yet, at least in the realm of native advertising. I've had plenty of people say to me (and plenty of frugality pundits write) they had to get off of social media because they feel manipulated by their personal network into buying crap they don't need. I've never heard somebody say they need to opt out of Outbrain ads because of the same thing.
- ABCLAW 7y ago
  You dispense with "they provide a benefit" and instead land on "we're not great at being malicious yet". Literally the top post from this comments section is someone highlighting adblocking software to get rid of the stuff. I get that a job is a job, but don't drink the industry kool-aid.
  - troyvit 7y ago
    Eh not quite. I said they must provide a benefit, otherwise people wouldn't click on the stuff. You said, "No they're being manipulated into clicking on the stuff." I responded with "Outbrain is not nearly as good at manipulating people as social networks." To me that means there are other reasons people are clicking on the stuff and yeah I like to believe it's because they get some benefit from it (even if it's the same benefit they get from watching trashy tv or reading pulp fiction). I don't like to believe that because I think ads are awesome, I like to believe that because it feeds my belief that people do much of what they do out of free will. If we're puppets of corporations we're willing puppets of corporations and blaming ad networks won't change us.

by ABCLAW 7y ago

troyvit 7y ago

Heheheh I know we spend a lot of money trying to make that happen but from where I sit we're not that good at it yet, at least in the realm of native advertising. I've had plenty of people say to me (and plenty of frugality pundits write) they had to get off of social media because they feel manipulated by their personal network into buying crap they don't need. I've never heard somebody say they need to opt out of Outbrain ads because of the same thing.

ABCLAW 7y ago
You dispense with "they provide a benefit" and instead land on "we're not great at being malicious yet". Literally the top post from this comments section is someone highlighting adblocking software to get rid of the stuff. I get that a job is a job, but don't drink the industry kool-aid.
- troyvit 7y ago
  Eh not quite. I said they must provide a benefit, otherwise people wouldn't click on the stuff. You said, "No they're being manipulated into clicking on the stuff." I responded with "Outbrain is not nearly as good at manipulating people as social networks." To me that means there are other reasons people are clicking on the stuff and yeah I like to believe it's because they get some benefit from it (even if it's the same benefit they get from watching trashy tv or reading pulp fiction). I don't like to believe that because I think ads are awesome, I like to believe that because it feeds my belief that people do much of what they do out of free will. If we're puppets of corporations we're willing puppets of corporations and blaming ad networks won't change us.