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How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

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Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#51

Post by crispinb »

grogenaut wrote: post #43
crispinb wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's some justice to that argument for access to strictly discretionary sites, but Facebook has been so 'successful' that it's now approaching monopolistic power, & is something close to required infrastructure. There are an increasing number of online contacts which literally offer no alternative. I have a few fake facebook accounts I'll use where I literally have no alternative, none of which have real data asso…

Can you give some specific examples of places with no contact alternatives? Not really grokking this point. Do you mean they (the business) can't be contacted any other way, and facebook is their only presence?

Not if specific means linking to FB! But, yes, there are many local businesses (notably pubs, cafes & some specialty stores) whose only online presence is there. Also some noncommercial stuff - eg in recent bush fires where I live, a local FB group was sometimes the most up to date, if not always the most accurate, source of information. Bizarrely, some XR events are also only publicised on FB.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#52

Post by a13n »

notafraudster wrote: post #28
crakenzak wrote: post #2

Interesting article. I don't blame Facebook for doing whatever they can to properly show ads tho, they provide a "free" service and in exchange serve ads. It's not free to support a company their size and its expected they do everything they can to monetize the site properly. What do you guys think?

"do everything they can to monetize" Except, evidently, allow users to pay money to not be subjected to ads.

Wouldn't work. Users who are willing to pay to make ads go away are the most valuable audience for advertisers because they have money to spend. Therefore FB would have to charge a TON of money to make up for their billions in lost ads revenue, and nobody would pay that amount anyway.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#53

Post by 1propionyl »

I'm surprised I haven't seen a single comment say what ought to be the obvious: the easiest way to never see Facebook ads is to just not use Facebook.

I should hope I'm preaching to the choir, I'm sure, but... quitting really isn't as hard as you tell yourself it is.

It's not as essential as you think it is.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#56

Post by abhiminator »

1propionyl wrote: post #53

I'm surprised I haven't seen a single comment say what ought to be the obvious: the easiest way to never see Facebook ads is to just not use Facebook. I should hope I'm preaching to the choir, I'm sure, but... quitting really isn't as hard as you tell yourself it is. It's not as essential as you think it is.

Cannot agree more. Quit Facebook and its sister service completely (talking about WhatsApp; never really got around to using Instagram) after the 'View As' feature exploit last year that led to 50 mil user accounts' data being exposed [0], and I must say, I've never felt more calmer, tranquil or better, mental health wise.

I feel our brains could do much better with a little less of constant bombardment of highlight-reel version of other people's lives. The psychological literature on the negative impacts of social media usage is only ballooning by the day, and there's never been a better time to quit Facebook.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/technology/facebook-hack-...

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#57

Post by rdiddly »

dannyr wrote: post #7
oferzelig wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're basically against ad blockers.

If a business chooses how they make money to survive, can you just say "I don't like how you make money so I'll just get everything for free"? If you don't like how a company uses ads (regular, spammy, deceptive), no better way than tell them than by not giving them any traffic at all.

In this case, yes, yes you can. Although note that the value flows in the other direction. We're getting Facebook content (worthless), they're getting our attention (valuable).

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#59

Post by dx034 »

a13n wrote: post #52
notafraudster wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"do everything they can to monetize" Except, evidently, allow users to pay money to not be subjected to ads.

Wouldn't work. Users who are willing to pay to make ads go away are the most valuable audience for advertisers because they have money to spend. Therefore FB would have to charge a TON of money to make up for their billions in lost ads revenue, and nobody would pay that amount anyway.

Not sure about that. I just think that so few people would be willing to pay for it that it's just not worth the effort. Introducing billing brings administrative costs and requires more support. Sure, the HN crowd would maybe pay for ad free facebook, but ads don't seem to be that unpopular for most people.

Re: How Facebook Avoids Ad Blockers

#60

Post by digitalengineer »

charliesome wrote: post #55

How does this impact assistive technologies? Are Facebook users using screen readers left unaware of what's an ad and what's not?

Interesting question! FaceBook Alt Text feature is an after thought at best, so I imagine they never thought about it.
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