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'This Is a False Advertisement': X Ads Are Being Challenged by Reader Context

74 points by gnicholas 3y ago

entuno 3y ago
Allowing users to comment on adverts seems like a terrible idea. I'm amazed that any brands allow that - although I suppose if they're still advertising on Twitter perhaps they're not too concerned about what appears next to their ads..
- brucethemoose2 3y ago
  Yeah. I don't know who pushed this idea though, but have they seen the comment sections of corporate YouTube videos/ads? Much less political ones? There are many reasons those comment sections are usually disabled, and one of them is to protect my brain from melting.
- Vicinity9635 3y ago
  The "reader context" is Community Notes. Brands being aware that they can't deceive people is only going to turn away the scammy ones. Overall trust & quality improvement, I say, increasing the value of advertising there if you're honest.
  - mullingitover 3y ago
    This system is founded on the idea that the "community" will be a group of honest, well-behaved actors. As the internet at large has proven time and again, this is a hilariously naive idea.
    - Vicinity9635 3y ago
      [dead]
    - stormfather 3y ago
      "democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried"
    - mardifoufs 3y ago
      It's been working very well. If there's one saving grace to X/twitter, it's the community notes. It makes for a very very outrage-reducing experience. Plus, you can just vote on which one is true or not. And I don't think a simple majority is enough for that.
    - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
      > [Trustworthy advertising] is founded on the idea that the ["advertisers"] will be a group of honest, well-behaved actors. As the internet at large has proven time and again, this is a hilariously naive idea. I'd prefer the "community" bullshit over the "advertiser" bullshit.
    - itishappy 3y ago
      Ironically, I believe this to be a hilariously naïve view that does not align with how the system was designed and developed. The community note system was built on the understanding that the community is composed of a large collection of unique individuals with their own diverse viewpoints which will not always align. It's been designed to explicitly to take this into account and promote opinions that are agreeable to as diverse a group as possible while downranking opinions that are being promoted by organized groups of dishonest like-minded actors. https://communitynotes.twitter.com/guide/en/under-the-hood/ranking-notes https://communitynotes.twitter.com/guide/en/under-the-hood/r...
- jrm4 3y ago
  Ha, this is definitely an eye-of-the-beholder type comment. I think this is a GREAT idea for the users. Terrible, of course, for the site owner. :)
- loktarogar 3y ago
  The cost of twitter ads is so low right now. Add to it that you need to scroll on mobile for many of these notes, they're probably still having the effect the advertisers want. Of course, the quality of advertisers is also quite low right now..
- kaetemi 3y ago
  It encourages honest advertising.
- jabroni_salad 3y ago
  Well, the company named in the title was Evony, which has been running chumbox-style ads since before the word 'chumbox' ever entered the lexicon. They don't just not care, they have been targeting exactly that since they published "Come play, my lord" back in 2009.
xnx 3y ago
If X wanted to be a real pot-stirrer they'd enable commenting on ads all over the web: Google, Instagram, Facebook, news sites, etc. There should be enough unique identifiers in an ad to make this possible. This is a service I might pay for. A bonus side-effect for X is the browser extension would also capture a bunch of real user ad impression and click data.
- jrockway 3y ago
  This is something I've been meaning to do for like 20 years. Install the plugin and you can comment on any DOM element on the Internet. YouTube comments disabled? Comment anyway. Dislike an ad? Comment on it. Banned from Reddit? Reply anyway!
  - EA-3167 3y ago
    Unless millions of people install the plugin, that sort of thing would more or less have the same impact as making those comments out loud in an empty room.
    - meepmorp 3y ago
      Plus, ranting to yourself doesn't increase the attack surface of your browser.
      - EA-3167 3y ago
        Now that's a very good point, at least unless you have some fancy AI system that turns ranting into terrible cod- oh that's ChatGPT.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - jabroni_salad 3y ago
      I think you'd be surprised how much reach a small niche community can have. Homestucks used to basically own an extension that let you doodle on pages. Even other webcomics ended up with homestuck doodles instead of their own. could not have been more than a couple hundred users but I ran across those things everywhere I went.
sublinear 3y ago
This is the next iteration of ad engagement. I think it's been a long time coming. Most ads are disagreeable because they stubbornly ignore what people actually think about the brand. Reddit and YouTube are too inefficient for finding legitimate reviews and opinions and have to be deliberately sought out. I think this is still a bit too crude to be taken seriously though.
- zdragnar 3y ago
  It's also a small dose of free market research for the companies doing the advertising. Being out in the open is unfortunate, but who wouldn't want free, community curated feedback?
  - dist-epoch 3y ago
    Advertising is meant to be one way, your message unchallenged.
    - itishappy 3y ago
      It's the parent discipline, marketing, which concerns itself with feedback.
j-bos 3y ago
The community notes are amazing, commonly hidden key info gets sussed out to the top like with the notes on the Samsung phone that hid their use of AI to generate lunar images rather than photographing it.
- mardifoufs 3y ago
  Yeah it makes the more "polarised" experience a lot easier to digest. It's an amazingly effective tool, especially since it's not just some dude at twitter HQ writing them. So you can see them pop up on almost any post.
dist-epoch 3y ago
> Days later, a Community Note appeared, telling users that “Samsung phones digitally ‘fake’ images taken of the Moon to make them appear sharper,” I've seen a funny video where someone with a Samsung zooms in to the moon until you can see on the screen the US rovers driving around.

74 points by gnicholas 3y ago

Allowing users to comment on adverts seems like a terrible idea. I'm amazed that any brands allow that - although I suppose if they're still advertising on Twitter perhaps they're not too concerned about what appears next to their ads..

brucethemoose2 3y ago
Yeah. I don't know who pushed this idea though, but have they seen the comment sections of corporate YouTube videos/ads? Much less political ones? There are many reasons those comment sections are usually disabled, and one of them is to protect my brain from melting.
Vicinity9635 3y ago
The "reader context" is Community Notes. Brands being aware that they can't deceive people is only going to turn away the scammy ones. Overall trust & quality improvement, I say, increasing the value of advertising there if you're honest.
- mullingitover 3y ago
  This system is founded on the idea that the "community" will be a group of honest, well-behaved actors. As the internet at large has proven time and again, this is a hilariously naive idea.
  - Vicinity9635 3y ago
    [dead]
  - stormfather 3y ago
    "democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried"
  - mardifoufs 3y ago
    It's been working very well. If there's one saving grace to X/twitter, it's the community notes. It makes for a very very outrage-reducing experience. Plus, you can just vote on which one is true or not. And I don't think a simple majority is enough for that.
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
    > [Trustworthy advertising] is founded on the idea that the ["advertisers"] will be a group of honest, well-behaved actors. As the internet at large has proven time and again, this is a hilariously naive idea. I'd prefer the "community" bullshit over the "advertiser" bullshit.
  - itishappy 3y ago
    Ironically, I believe this to be a hilariously naïve view that does not align with how the system was designed and developed. The community note system was built on the understanding that the community is composed of a large collection of unique individuals with their own diverse viewpoints which will not always align. It's been designed to explicitly to take this into account and promote opinions that are agreeable to as diverse a group as possible while downranking opinions that are being promoted by organized groups of dishonest like-minded actors. https://communitynotes.twitter.com/guide/en/under-the-hood/ranking-notes https://communitynotes.twitter.com/guide/en/under-the-hood/r...
jrm4 3y ago
Ha, this is definitely an eye-of-the-beholder type comment. I think this is a GREAT idea for the users. Terrible, of course, for the site owner. :)
loktarogar 3y ago
The cost of twitter ads is so low right now. Add to it that you need to scroll on mobile for many of these notes, they're probably still having the effect the advertisers want. Of course, the quality of advertisers is also quite low right now..
kaetemi 3y ago
It encourages honest advertising.
jabroni_salad 3y ago
Well, the company named in the title was Evony, which has been running chumbox-style ads since before the word 'chumbox' ever entered the lexicon. They don't just not care, they have been targeting exactly that since they published "Come play, my lord" back in 2009.

xnx 3y ago

If X wanted to be a real pot-stirrer they'd enable commenting on ads all over the web: Google, Instagram, Facebook, news sites, etc. There should be enough unique identifiers in an ad to make this possible. This is a service I might pay for. A bonus side-effect for X is the browser extension would also capture a bunch of real user ad impression and click data.

jrockway 3y ago
This is something I've been meaning to do for like 20 years. Install the plugin and you can comment on any DOM element on the Internet. YouTube comments disabled? Comment anyway. Dislike an ad? Comment on it. Banned from Reddit? Reply anyway!
- EA-3167 3y ago
  Unless millions of people install the plugin, that sort of thing would more or less have the same impact as making those comments out loud in an empty room.
  - meepmorp 3y ago
    Plus, ranting to yourself doesn't increase the attack surface of your browser.
    - EA-3167 3y ago
      Now that's a very good point, at least unless you have some fancy AI system that turns ranting into terrible cod- oh that's ChatGPT.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
  - jabroni_salad 3y ago
    I think you'd be surprised how much reach a small niche community can have. Homestucks used to basically own an extension that let you doodle on pages. Even other webcomics ended up with homestuck doodles instead of their own. could not have been more than a couple hundred users but I ran across those things everywhere I went.

sublinear 3y ago

This is the next iteration of ad engagement. I think it's been a long time coming. Most ads are disagreeable because they stubbornly ignore what people actually think about the brand. Reddit and YouTube are too inefficient for finding legitimate reviews and opinions and have to be deliberately sought out. I think this is still a bit too crude to be taken seriously though.

zdragnar 3y ago
It's also a small dose of free market research for the companies doing the advertising. Being out in the open is unfortunate, but who wouldn't want free, community curated feedback?
- dist-epoch 3y ago
  Advertising is meant to be one way, your message unchallenged.
  - itishappy 3y ago
    It's the parent discipline, marketing, which concerns itself with feedback.

j-bos 3y ago

The community notes are amazing, commonly hidden key info gets sussed out to the top like with the notes on the Samsung phone that hid their use of AI to generate lunar images rather than photographing it.

mardifoufs 3y ago
Yeah it makes the more "polarised" experience a lot easier to digest. It's an amazingly effective tool, especially since it's not just some dude at twitter HQ writing them. So you can see them pop up on almost any post.

dist-epoch 3y ago

> Days later, a Community Note appeared, telling users that “Samsung phones digitally ‘fake’ images taken of the Moon to make them appear sharper,” I've seen a funny video where someone with a Samsung zooms in to the moon until you can see on the screen the US rovers driving around.