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"Google is effective when people search for things they already want to buy and then see ads for relevant products. Facebook is better for educating consumers a

"Google is effective when people search for things they already want to buy and then see ads for relevant products. Facebook is better for educating consumers about products they might want to buy in the future." Funny, this divide probably falls exactly where many people draw the line between "Good" and "Bad" advertising. The former is solving a problem, the latter is convincing you that you have a problem they can solve.

msoad 13y ago
I'm sure there are plenty of products are out there that you would yell "TAKE MY MONEY" when you see them but you are not aware of those. Why making new market is bad?
nemothekid 13y ago
I don't understand how the latter is "bad" advertising. I don't think in 1999, people would have been searching for "where to buy a smartphone"
sabbatic13 13y ago
Actually good vs. bad advertising is tricky. When ads are very targeted and try to show you things the system thinks you are looking for, you get a small number of relevant ads vs. a bunch of spam ads. In that sense, they are actually very good and can be useful for some people. Sometimes, they can even help you discover things you couldn't find through a direct search. On the other hand, the data collection and analysis you have to do in order to target effectively seems bad to most people. I'd rather have my privacy and control of my own data than get targeted ads, but most people don't seem to have the same awareness or concern. In any event, that quote isn't quite accurate. Behaviorally targeted ads are the result of data obtained from people actively searching for something or browsing as well. (Behavioral targeting is really where the money in in FBX). They may be showing you something you don't know you want, but more often, they are showing you what the system thinks you were looking for but couldn't find.
yummyfajitas 13y ago
I'm not searching for a phone app that lets me call and pay for a livery cab from wherever I am. I'm also not searching for an electric car. Or a vacuuming robot. I didn't even know these things existed until after they did. It's "bad advertising" to tell me "hey, this thing you don't know to search for is out there"?
s3r3nity 13y ago
So all the machine learning Amazon does in suggesting products I might want or like is "bad?" Give me a break -- I know there are a lot of Google Fan-folk on HN, but to say there's a "Good" | "Bad" advertising binary is just silly.

msoad 13y ago

I'm sure there are plenty of products are out there that you would yell "TAKE MY MONEY" when you see them but you are not aware of those. Why making new market is bad?

nemothekid 13y ago

I don't understand how the latter is "bad" advertising. I don't think in 1999, people would have been searching for "where to buy a smartphone"

sabbatic13 13y ago

Actually good vs. bad advertising is tricky. When ads are very targeted and try to show you things the system thinks you are looking for, you get a small number of relevant ads vs. a bunch of spam ads. In that sense, they are actually very good and can be useful for some people. Sometimes, they can even help you discover things you couldn't find through a direct search. On the other hand, the data collection and analysis you have to do in order to target effectively seems bad to most people. I'd rather have my privacy and control of my own data than get targeted ads, but most people don't seem to have the same awareness or concern. In any event, that quote isn't quite accurate. Behaviorally targeted ads are the result of data obtained from people actively searching for something or browsing as well. (Behavioral targeting is really where the money in in FBX). They may be showing you something you don't know you want, but more often, they are showing you what the system thinks you were looking for but couldn't find.

yummyfajitas 13y ago

I'm not searching for a phone app that lets me call and pay for a livery cab from wherever I am. I'm also not searching for an electric car. Or a vacuuming robot. I didn't even know these things existed until after they did. It's "bad advertising" to tell me "hey, this thing you don't know to search for is out there"?

s3r3nity 13y ago

So all the machine learning Amazon does in suggesting products I might want or like is "bad?" Give me a break -- I know there are a lot of Google Fan-folk on HN, but to say there's a "Good" | "Bad" advertising binary is just silly.