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I guess I just can't, no matter how hard I try, imagine why a person would think ads are good, especially targeted ads. The only reason I can come up with is t

by na85 6y ago

I guess I just can't, no matter how hard I try, imagine why a person would think ads are good, especially targeted ads. The only reason I can come up with is that a person would willingly look past how odious advertising is because it pays their bills. If as you say that's not the case then can you help me understand why?

jedberg 6y ago
TL;DR: It gives me ideas of ways to spend money I was already going to spend, but now I have a place to start my research with some concrete ideas. Well, I've given the example of live shows a couple of times. I've been to a few live shows that I learned about from targeted ads. Those were experiences I enjoyed and would not have learned about otherwise. I'll pull up my Insta feed right now and list the targeted ads: Osmo -- This is a game system for my kids that I already own. The ad isn't super useful, except I just learned about a new game they're releasing that I might want to get for my daughter. I may have eventually seen this elsewhere, but this is the first I'm seeing it. Osmo again. But from a different vendor. Lego -- They have some new sets that I didn't know about. I enjoy building legos with my kids, so now I know about a few new sets we might enjoy together. Something called Soundbrenner. It's a gadget for musicians. I'm not a musician so this doesn't interest me. None the less, I am glad I know about this because I have musician friends who might be interested in something like this, so maybe the next time I talk to them I'll mention it, and they may be appreciative of me telling them because it can give them an idea of a new way to improve their play. Maybe they'll buy the gadget, maybe they'll find something similar, maybe they'll build something similar. A charity for helping teachers during Christmas. This interests me. I support education and there is a good chance I'll make a donation to this cause. Now I'm happy that I found out about this charity. An ad for a service that turns pictures of your pets into hand done oil paintings. I don't have pets, but one of my best friends does as do my parents, so there is a possibility I'll use this service as a Christmas gift. A contest to win a Lamborghini featured in a lady gaga video. This is mistargeted and I have no interest. A food sealing kitchen gadget. I'm going to forward this to my wife, who loves cooking gadgets, and then she'll check her cooking forums for someone who had a DIY version, but now she has a new idea to ask about. Bed Bath and Beyond. Meh, don't really care. A clothing company that follows the Tom's model of buy one give one. I don't like the clothes, but if I did, this is the kind of thing I might support if I need new clothes. Some sort of prescription drug. The ad doesn't even say what it cures. So I have no interest in this. However, if it happened to be for an ailment that I actually have, I'd probably click through to find out more and be a jumping point for my own research. Quicken Loans. I actually hate this ad because it encourages people to refinance their 30 year mortgage into a 15 year mortgage which is a terrible idea. Another ad for musicians, this time an app. Same comment as above -- not interested but I may mention to a friend. An ad for a new star wars game in VR. As it turns out, I recently bought an Occulus (from someone on HN actually) so this might be a game I would be interested in. I probably would have found out about this later when looking for new games, but this is the first I've heard of this game. Another Lego ad, this time a different set. Anyway, I could keep going, as the ads are endless (although they start to repeat). The point is, in most of these cases, I learned something new that I didn't know before. Yes, in every case, they are trying to get me to spend money. But it's money I probably would have been spending anyway (Christmas presents, games my kids and I can play together, games I can play alone, charity donations). So I'm glad that I now have some ideas and places to start looking. In a lot of cases, the ads are just jumping off points for research, but they give me new ideas I wouldn't have thought of.
- na85 6y ago
  Here's what I don't get: Why not just block the ads, which has two benefits: 1. Reduces profitability of advertising companies 2. Makes browsing the web sane (not to mention 30000% more pleasant) And then after you've blocked all the ads you can just search for $subject_or_product_genre_that_interests_you, on your own terms, without worrying about scumbags tracking you and mining crypto via javascript in your browser?
  - jedberg 6y ago
    I do block ads in my browser. I only have them in the apps on my phone, where they are unblock able anyway. Also, a lot of sites I like exist because of ads. If everyone had them off, they wouldn't exist anymore. And because I wouldn't even think to search for those topics in the first place. It's the act of seeing that ad that gets me to start thinking about that topic in the first place.

by na85 6y ago

jedberg 6y ago

TL;DR: It gives me ideas of ways to spend money I was already going to spend, but now I have a place to start my research with some concrete ideas. Well, I've given the example of live shows a couple of times. I've been to a few live shows that I learned about from targeted ads. Those were experiences I enjoyed and would not have learned about otherwise. I'll pull up my Insta feed right now and list the targeted ads: Osmo -- This is a game system for my kids that I already own. The ad isn't super useful, except I just learned about a new game they're releasing that I might want to get for my daughter. I may have eventually seen this elsewhere, but this is the first I'm seeing it. Osmo again. But from a different vendor. Lego -- They have some new sets that I didn't know about. I enjoy building legos with my kids, so now I know about a few new sets we might enjoy together. Something called Soundbrenner. It's a gadget for musicians. I'm not a musician so this doesn't interest me. None the less, I am glad I know about this because I have musician friends who might be interested in something like this, so maybe the next time I talk to them I'll mention it, and they may be appreciative of me telling them because it can give them an idea of a new way to improve their play. Maybe they'll buy the gadget, maybe they'll find something similar, maybe they'll build something similar. A charity for helping teachers during Christmas. This interests me. I support education and there is a good chance I'll make a donation to this cause. Now I'm happy that I found out about this charity. An ad for a service that turns pictures of your pets into hand done oil paintings. I don't have pets, but one of my best friends does as do my parents, so there is a possibility I'll use this service as a Christmas gift. A contest to win a Lamborghini featured in a lady gaga video. This is mistargeted and I have no interest. A food sealing kitchen gadget. I'm going to forward this to my wife, who loves cooking gadgets, and then she'll check her cooking forums for someone who had a DIY version, but now she has a new idea to ask about. Bed Bath and Beyond. Meh, don't really care. A clothing company that follows the Tom's model of buy one give one. I don't like the clothes, but if I did, this is the kind of thing I might support if I need new clothes. Some sort of prescription drug. The ad doesn't even say what it cures. So I have no interest in this. However, if it happened to be for an ailment that I actually have, I'd probably click through to find out more and be a jumping point for my own research. Quicken Loans. I actually hate this ad because it encourages people to refinance their 30 year mortgage into a 15 year mortgage which is a terrible idea. Another ad for musicians, this time an app. Same comment as above -- not interested but I may mention to a friend. An ad for a new star wars game in VR. As it turns out, I recently bought an Occulus (from someone on HN actually) so this might be a game I would be interested in. I probably would have found out about this later when looking for new games, but this is the first I've heard of this game. Another Lego ad, this time a different set. Anyway, I could keep going, as the ads are endless (although they start to repeat). The point is, in most of these cases, I learned something new that I didn't know before. Yes, in every case, they are trying to get me to spend money. But it's money I probably would have been spending anyway (Christmas presents, games my kids and I can play together, games I can play alone, charity donations). So I'm glad that I now have some ideas and places to start looking. In a lot of cases, the ads are just jumping off points for research, but they give me new ideas I wouldn't have thought of.

na85 6y ago
Here's what I don't get: Why not just block the ads, which has two benefits: 1. Reduces profitability of advertising companies 2. Makes browsing the web sane (not to mention 30000% more pleasant) And then after you've blocked all the ads you can just search for $subject_or_product_genre_that_interests_you, on your own terms, without worrying about scumbags tracking you and mining crypto via javascript in your browser?
- jedberg 6y ago
  I do block ads in my browser. I only have them in the apps on my phone, where they are unblock able anyway. Also, a lot of sites I like exist because of ads. If everyone had them off, they wouldn't exist anymore. And because I wouldn't even think to search for those topics in the first place. It's the act of seeing that ad that gets me to start thinking about that topic in the first place.