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What is targeted advertising needed for?

by jka 7y ago

dx034 7y ago
To get information to those that are interested in it. While some dislike any kind of advertisment, many (me included) don't mind having ads, as long as they're not too intrusive and actually useful.
- jka 7y ago
  There are other ways that users can fulfill their information needs which don't require targeted advertising. You mention you don't mind ads; would you also prefer to be subject to targeted advertising rather than to have software running on your own device which displays equally-relevant reference material without sharing your personal data?
- dfxm12 7y ago
  But, you can't have targeted ads without some database out there tracking everything you do. A database that is ostensibly used to get information to you that you might find interesting, but in reality has been used for much worse, according to the article: proliferation of hateful and false content on social media & political manipulation, among others. This data is also an valuable target for ID thieves. The ads themselves aren't the problem here, nor is it really what's being discussed.
  - libertine 7y ago
    You had targeted advertising before the internet, it's simply less targeted and less granular, with more wastage. A quick example: if you wanted to reach health care works, or more precisely doctors, you'd advertising on magazines for health care professionals. Most of which were subscribed (name, birthday, profession, address, etc) - so you had already some data for some targeting. > in reality has been used for much worse, according to the article: proliferation of hateful and false content on social media & political manipulation, among others. This is where advertising is getting mixed with propaganda - those are very different things and the only cross section is that they are messages that use text, audio, images, video - in others words - they are distributed with audiovisual media. They have different legal obligations (depending on the country). What is lacking is regulation and fines for abuse of propaganda. The problem is that the sheer volume of content being produced is hard to regulate.
- zepto 7y ago
  “Interested” is Orwellian doublespeak. What advertisers care about is who is susceptible or vulnerable to persuasion.
eyeinthepyramid 7y ago
Perhaps to inform people about the goods and services that you offer that they might be interested in buying?
- ativzzz 7y ago
  Is this not what a search engine is for? When I want a good or service I'm interested in buying, I can search it, do my research, and/or find a place to buy it. I only want advertising when I explicitly opt into it. Otherwise, I never want to see an ad.
  - libertine 7y ago
    Do not forget that you represent a small minority of tech literate people. There's plenty of people that don't know how to properly use a search engine, hell there's plenty who don't know what a search engine is. Plus, search engines have a role in the consumer decision journey, but don't fulfill all the roles. Just to add up, with SEM (paid ads + SEO) search results have a big chance of being biased nowadays, and you should always take that into consideration.
    - ativzzz 7y ago
      > Do not forget that you represent a small minority of tech literate people. You're right haha, plus I'm more of a minimalist so I just want to have less stuff in general.
libertine 7y ago
Targeted advertising allows you to deliver specific messages to specific audiences, and by specific audiences I mean a narrow cluster of people that has the potential to have an interest in your brand. This allows you - the brand - to reduce wastage. And in theory, it should reduce Ad Fatigue in the audience. Wastage because every time you miss a potential audience member, or you reach a wrong person, you paid to deliver a message that won't be heard/read/seen. If you think about it, this adds up - even with targeted advertising. Ad Fatigue comes from you being shown advertising you have no interested in (why are you seeing bunions cream if you don't have bunions), or you see too many times the same ad you start to notice it for the wrong reasons (imagine you see a re targeted ad from amazon for a product you bought 3 weeks ago, and for 3 weeks you're seeing daily the same product being recommended to you). In theory, everyone should win with targeted ads, in reality, it's being abused and it's saturating consumers. Not only abused by brands, but also by a consumer behavior/culture that aims to spend more. You can argue that one fuels the other, well, I'm not so sure about that, because cultural shifts are too big to be the agenda of anyone. In my opinion, they feed on each other.
1123581321 7y ago
Ideally, advertising is a way for the seller (or teacher/advocate/government) to pay some of the buyer’s/researcher’s search costs. Targeted advertising lets the advertiser pay for part of more expensive searches. One of the problems with Google and Facebook is that they are businesses whose core product should be driving search costs very low, so they compromise their product so that their advertising remains valuable to close the gap.

What is targeted advertising needed for?

by jka 7y ago

What is targeted advertising needed for?

To get information to those that are interested in it. While some dislike any kind of advertisment, many (me included) don't mind having ads, as long as they're not too intrusive and actually useful.

jka 7y ago
There are other ways that users can fulfill their information needs which don't require targeted advertising. You mention you don't mind ads; would you also prefer to be subject to targeted advertising rather than to have software running on your own device which displays equally-relevant reference material without sharing your personal data?
dfxm12 7y ago
But, you can't have targeted ads without some database out there tracking everything you do. A database that is ostensibly used to get information to you that you might find interesting, but in reality has been used for much worse, according to the article: proliferation of hateful and false content on social media & political manipulation, among others. This data is also an valuable target for ID thieves. The ads themselves aren't the problem here, nor is it really what's being discussed.
- libertine 7y ago
  You had targeted advertising before the internet, it's simply less targeted and less granular, with more wastage. A quick example: if you wanted to reach health care works, or more precisely doctors, you'd advertising on magazines for health care professionals. Most of which were subscribed (name, birthday, profession, address, etc) - so you had already some data for some targeting. > in reality has been used for much worse, according to the article: proliferation of hateful and false content on social media & political manipulation, among others. This is where advertising is getting mixed with propaganda - those are very different things and the only cross section is that they are messages that use text, audio, images, video - in others words - they are distributed with audiovisual media. They have different legal obligations (depending on the country). What is lacking is regulation and fines for abuse of propaganda. The problem is that the sheer volume of content being produced is hard to regulate.
zepto 7y ago
“Interested” is Orwellian doublespeak. What advertisers care about is who is susceptible or vulnerable to persuasion.

eyeinthepyramid 7y ago

Perhaps to inform people about the goods and services that you offer that they might be interested in buying?

ativzzz 7y ago
Is this not what a search engine is for? When I want a good or service I'm interested in buying, I can search it, do my research, and/or find a place to buy it. I only want advertising when I explicitly opt into it. Otherwise, I never want to see an ad.
- libertine 7y ago
  Do not forget that you represent a small minority of tech literate people. There's plenty of people that don't know how to properly use a search engine, hell there's plenty who don't know what a search engine is. Plus, search engines have a role in the consumer decision journey, but don't fulfill all the roles. Just to add up, with SEM (paid ads + SEO) search results have a big chance of being biased nowadays, and you should always take that into consideration.
  - ativzzz 7y ago
    > Do not forget that you represent a small minority of tech literate people. You're right haha, plus I'm more of a minimalist so I just want to have less stuff in general.

libertine 7y ago

Targeted advertising allows you to deliver specific messages to specific audiences, and by specific audiences I mean a narrow cluster of people that has the potential to have an interest in your brand. This allows you - the brand - to reduce wastage. And in theory, it should reduce Ad Fatigue in the audience. Wastage because every time you miss a potential audience member, or you reach a wrong person, you paid to deliver a message that won't be heard/read/seen. If you think about it, this adds up - even with targeted advertising. Ad Fatigue comes from you being shown advertising you have no interested in (why are you seeing bunions cream if you don't have bunions), or you see too many times the same ad you start to notice it for the wrong reasons (imagine you see a re targeted ad from amazon for a product you bought 3 weeks ago, and for 3 weeks you're seeing daily the same product being recommended to you). In theory, everyone should win with targeted ads, in reality, it's being abused and it's saturating consumers. Not only abused by brands, but also by a consumer behavior/culture that aims to spend more. You can argue that one fuels the other, well, I'm not so sure about that, because cultural shifts are too big to be the agenda of anyone. In my opinion, they feed on each other.

1123581321 7y ago

Ideally, advertising is a way for the seller (or teacher/advocate/government) to pay some of the buyer’s/researcher’s search costs. Targeted advertising lets the advertiser pay for part of more expensive searches. One of the problems with Google and Facebook is that they are businesses whose core product should be driving search costs very low, so they compromise their product so that their advertising remains valuable to close the gap.