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Well the point of internet is provide abundance to everyone at every price point and product category. Initially it was only about information and now it is abo

Well the point of internet is provide abundance to everyone at every price point and product category. Initially it was only about information and now it is about good products and services. Ads help in that. Not every small niche product has physical store in every city or has an app, listing on Amazon doesn't properly convey the worth of their products to new buyers. Physically seeing products is not necessary because you can always return it if not satisfied. Consider another area where recommendation results in ecommerce like activity. Food delivery apps. One could say why not visit the restaurant and eat there. Through delivery apps, I come to know about new items / cuisines, restaurants, their reviews and buy them. In fact the situation is far more worse in delivery apps because you can't return a food item once tasted. Not so with other category of products like clothings, etc. I feel like Benedicts Evans should make a primer on why ads exists and how better ads could serve society.

matheusmoreira 3y ago
Ads help in that by selling my attention to corporations. I think that's a violation of my boundaries and will resist it by any means possible. > Through delivery apps, I come to know about new items / cuisines, restaurants, their reviews and buy them. I use these store and delivery apps extremely often. I have issues with their tracking of my behavior but I don't consider them to be advertising at all. I opened the app because I wanted to see the products and offers. That's not advertising, that's information which I specifically requested. Advertising is when the app gets in my face with nonsense I couldn't care less about while I'm trying to do something else.
- passion__desire 3y ago
  Well, I go to Instagram to spend surplus time which I was gonna waste anyway. If instagram shows me an ad which it thinks fit my demographics and helps me improve my lifestyle, it is a win-win for all 3 parties [aggregator, sellers, buyers] involved. I don't care how I reached there. I am knowledgeable enough to distinguish what is relevant to me. Amazon results are litered with ads. It is similar how to Walmart would preselect products for you and you have little to no-choice among them. Do you get a personal choice in what should be put on shelf. Walmart does the selection based on internal data it gathered. It can build a profile on you.

matheusmoreira 3y ago

Ads help in that by selling my attention to corporations. I think that's a violation of my boundaries and will resist it by any means possible. > Through delivery apps, I come to know about new items / cuisines, restaurants, their reviews and buy them. I use these store and delivery apps extremely often. I have issues with their tracking of my behavior but I don't consider them to be advertising at all. I opened the app because I wanted to see the products and offers. That's not advertising, that's information which I specifically requested. Advertising is when the app gets in my face with nonsense I couldn't care less about while I'm trying to do something else.

passion__desire 3y ago
Well, I go to Instagram to spend surplus time which I was gonna waste anyway. If instagram shows me an ad which it thinks fit my demographics and helps me improve my lifestyle, it is a win-win for all 3 parties [aggregator, sellers, buyers] involved. I don't care how I reached there. I am knowledgeable enough to distinguish what is relevant to me. Amazon results are litered with ads. It is similar how to Walmart would preselect products for you and you have little to no-choice among them. Do you get a personal choice in what should be put on shelf. Walmart does the selection based on internal data it gathered. It can build a profile on you.