5 ms·
That is a form of advertising.
by tomrod 4y ago
That is a form of advertising.
- GekkePrutser 4y agoI guess but not initiated by sales and marketing people trying to flog stuff I don't need, but actual satisfied customers who I can trust because they're my friends.
- tomrod 4y agoI'm against most advertising as well, but affiliate advertising is a very known thing. Consider MLMs as a model (a disgusting one at that) but friend-marketing is a thing. Advertising that informs can be a net positive. Advertising that does anything else is a large waste of resources, IMHO.
- em-bee 4y agothat's a good point. i don't like advertising either. but friends trying to sell me stuff so they can make a living somehow feels worse. or imagine advertisements be replaced with door-to-door salespeople. i think a good way would be more markets. imagine "market-day" on a tech conference. everyone at a conference who is selling services in a room sitting at a table, and you can walk up to them if we are looking for some service.
- endgame 4y agoIf you ban all other forms of advertising, you will get fake "friends" trying to sell you stuff. I suppose "influencers" and MLMs are existing versions of this, but they are rightly seen as tacky and parasocial. Do you really want to force all advertising down that route?
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago> is a form of advertising In modern parlance, word of mouth is a form of marketing. Advertising is “an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a product, service or idea” [1]. (Also, word of mouth has strong incumbency bias. The printing press was revolutionary for a reason.) [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising
- tomrod 4y agoI disagree with that definition. Webster's has the more common definition, of which the definition on wikipedia is a subset[0]: > the action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements For example, this current comment advertises for Merriam-Webster's definition of advertising by calling attention to it. [0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertising https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertising
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago> especially by paid announcements There isn’t a single correct answer, because English. But in modern parlance, particularly in policy and commercial contexts, the paid part is key. “Word of mouth” encapsulates the difference: if they’re paid, they’re a spokesperson. If your friend pitching a product doesn’t disclose they’re paid, most would consider that dishonest.