4 ms·

When are people going to learn that polling is dead, and has been dead for some time, and that statements like these are pure fiction — written by people who ha

When are people going to learn that polling is dead, and has been dead for some time, and that statements like these are pure fiction — written by people who have the goal of influencing you rather than informing you?

tomdell 6y ago
Polling has issues, but it's an extreme exaggeration to say that it's dead and that any statement based on it is fictional. Anecdotally, very few people I know are comfortable with the state of personalized ads. The kind of people who are too paranoid to answer polls are probably not fans of personalized ads either, so I wouldn't be surprised if the real percentage of those who disapprove is higher than the polls in the article show.
- odessacubbage 6y ago
  i'd like them more if they had even once shown me something i actually wanted or needed. being forced to sit through the same 3 ads for beer, car insurance and most recently sports betting does not make me want those things at all no matter how loud and obnoxiously repetitive they make the messaging. when i look through the newspaper or a skate mag, not only is the user experience considerably better but my eyeballs-to-purchase rate is much higher with completely non targeted advertisements that don't flash, pop out or scream at me. this is the most frustrating thing too, advertising does not have to suck. ime pretty much any enthusiast sports publication is about 60+ percent advertising, maybe more depending on if you consider any kind of feature about a team or a brand to be advertising in of itself as well e.g. >https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/videos/first-look-january-2017/ https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/videos/first-look-...
- nickysielicki 6y ago
  The problem is that these polls assume the authority of scientific inquiry without any rigor. I could state that 40% of people believe personalized ads are unethical, and that might be accurate, but when I claim it and admit that I pulled it out of hot/thin air, at least you know that it's just that -- hot air. Polling 6,000 self-selected people from 2 different continents and 4 different countries and weighting the responses based on populations in the millions is pseudoscience. RSA bought this survey. They're an internet security company. They didn't "research" this for any reason other than the fact that this press release is good for their bottom line.
black_puppydog 6y ago
Right! Always look at their actions instead! An example. Observation: nearly everyone uses facebook. Conclusion: they must love facebook! Corollary: they must be fine with what facebook is doing! Sorry, having a grumpy day here, but I find it kind of arrogant to think you know better than people. Yes, looking at actions provides info you don't get from polling. But the same holds the other way around.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  I'm hoping this is sarcasm, because "revealed preferences" are bunk. Let me propose alternative conclusion and corollary: Conclusion: they don't dislike it to the point of actually closing the account. Possible factor: everyone they know uses Facebook, so they're hostages of their social network - the so called network effect. Corollary: they don't really know what Facebook is doing, nor do they have time/energy to care, but if they did, they wouldn't be able to act on it - see point about network effects.
  - black_puppydog 6y ago
    Sorry, I forgot the /s marker there. :P

tomdell 6y ago

Polling has issues, but it's an extreme exaggeration to say that it's dead and that any statement based on it is fictional. Anecdotally, very few people I know are comfortable with the state of personalized ads. The kind of people who are too paranoid to answer polls are probably not fans of personalized ads either, so I wouldn't be surprised if the real percentage of those who disapprove is higher than the polls in the article show.

odessacubbage 6y ago
i'd like them more if they had even once shown me something i actually wanted or needed. being forced to sit through the same 3 ads for beer, car insurance and most recently sports betting does not make me want those things at all no matter how loud and obnoxiously repetitive they make the messaging. when i look through the newspaper or a skate mag, not only is the user experience considerably better but my eyeballs-to-purchase rate is much higher with completely non targeted advertisements that don't flash, pop out or scream at me. this is the most frustrating thing too, advertising does not have to suck. ime pretty much any enthusiast sports publication is about 60+ percent advertising, maybe more depending on if you consider any kind of feature about a team or a brand to be advertising in of itself as well e.g. >https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/videos/first-look-january-2017/ https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/videos/first-look-...
nickysielicki 6y ago
The problem is that these polls assume the authority of scientific inquiry without any rigor. I could state that 40% of people believe personalized ads are unethical, and that might be accurate, but when I claim it and admit that I pulled it out of hot/thin air, at least you know that it's just that -- hot air. Polling 6,000 self-selected people from 2 different continents and 4 different countries and weighting the responses based on populations in the millions is pseudoscience. RSA bought this survey. They're an internet security company. They didn't "research" this for any reason other than the fact that this press release is good for their bottom line.

black_puppydog 6y ago

Right! Always look at their actions instead! An example. Observation: nearly everyone uses facebook. Conclusion: they must love facebook! Corollary: they must be fine with what facebook is doing! Sorry, having a grumpy day here, but I find it kind of arrogant to think you know better than people. Yes, looking at actions provides info you don't get from polling. But the same holds the other way around.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
TeMPOraL 6y ago
I'm hoping this is sarcasm, because "revealed preferences" are bunk. Let me propose alternative conclusion and corollary: Conclusion: they don't dislike it to the point of actually closing the account. Possible factor: everyone they know uses Facebook, so they're hostages of their social network - the so called network effect. Corollary: they don't really know what Facebook is doing, nor do they have time/energy to care, but if they did, they wouldn't be able to act on it - see point about network effects.
- black_puppydog 6y ago
  Sorry, I forgot the /s marker there. :P