Instagram Has Become SkyMall • Hacker News Board

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#241

Post by plater » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:43 AM UTC

dunnevens wrote: post #183

I don't use Instagram much, but I am on Facebook too often. The limitations of the advertising algorithms are very interesting to me. For example: I participate in ex-evangelical groups because of my childhood experiences. Also follow pages which discuss American Christianity from a secular or journalistic perspective, and in Christian groups which interpret their beliefs from a left-ish ideology. "Liking" any post f…

"And thus not flood people who dislike a thing with ads promoting the thing."

But isn't that what these ads are about. They want to show the people who dislike a thing with ads promoting the thing so that hopefully one day they will like it.

Sure it could make you hate it more, but unconsciously or whatever, you will be affected.

I see ads for shoe brands I don't like or care about, but for sure, the next time I need to buy a pair of shoes, that brand name is on top of my mind.

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#242

Post by M277 » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:47 AM UTC

bdefore wrote: post #97

smabie wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait so if I showed you an ad for every product in existence you would buy nothing at all?

poster didn't say anything of the sort. but given the situation you're constructing, i'd expect they'd buy only what's necessary and all things being equal from the one that advertised least.

Yeah, precisely. In that case I'd only buy what I need. If there are multiple sources / alternatives, I'd buy from the one that advertised the least. If they all advertised equally, I'd probably ask people I know which one they found the best and research on the best alternative.

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#243

Post by draw_down » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:47 AM UTC

grishka wrote: post #226

Maybe it's just me, but I dislike the whole concept of advertising in places that aren't related to shopping. I go to Instagram to look at my friends' pictures, not to be sold something I don't actually need. If I were to shop, I'd go to a mall, thank you very much. Anyway, at some point Instagram ads (especially the autoplaying video kind, with sound) drove me crazy enough that out came jadx and apktool and I found…

Yes my friend, maybe it’s just you that dislikes ads. Maybe you’re totally unique and alone in the universe with that opinion. Maybe, maybe.

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#244

Post by throwawayswede » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:52 AM UTC

What's tragic here is that the author is complaining about one ad-infested, tracker-infested piece of trash of a product, on another ad-infested, tracker-infested piece of trash that is Medium.

Why the the fuck people still write on Medium even though it prevents people from reading content after a few times without either paying or logging in is beyond me.

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#245

Post by herbst » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:52 AM UTC

Everyone is just posting stories today. So when I open Instagram I don't get pictures and updates from people I care about but I do actually get a wall full of ads. Sometimes there is no actual content for 20+ posts. Nothing that could actually interest me.

It's awful and I don't know how people can use this for their own entertainment.

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#246

Post by coldtea » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:55 AM UTC

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #238

0x0nyandesu wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely just you. Women go on Instagram to see fashion with links to shopping "the look".

Some people go to instagram for fashion, but that is definitely not all women nor just women. I personally just wear a black shirt and black pants almost every day, am not all that interested in fashion, and am a woman.

>Some people go to instagram for fashion, but that is definitely not all women nor just women.

No, but it is the third option you ommited: mostly women (doing that).

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#247

Post by herbst » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:58 AM UTC

endisneigh wrote: post #17

Is there anyone else out there who refuses to buy something if they first learned about it from an ad?

Yes and no. But I do avoid buying products which price is mostly based on their advertisment budget. So in the end yes, never bought anything suggested from an Instagram or Facebook ad. However I only get shown absolute bullshit that has zero relevance to me (prolly because of blocking so much of the tracking)

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#248

Post by coldtea » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 9:59 AM UTC

beardyw wrote: post #210

dunnevens wrote: post #183

I don't use Instagram much, but I am on Facebook too often. The limitations of the advertising algorithms are very interesting to me. For example: I participate in ex-evangelical groups because of my childhood experiences. Also follow pages which discuss American Christianity from a secular or journalistic perspective, and in Christian groups which interpret their beliefs from a left-ish ideology. "Liking" any post f…

Sorry to sound stupid, but I live in the UK and have literally never seen an ad from a church (except maybe on a board outside). What is the purpose of the ad? What is their motivation?

>I live in the UK and have literally never seen an ad from a church

To be honest, the UK hardly has a church anyway :-)

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#249

Post by distances » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 10:02 AM UTC

grishka wrote: post #226

Maybe it's just me, but I dislike the whole concept of advertising in places that aren't related to shopping. I go to Instagram to look at my friends' pictures, not to be sold something I don't actually need. If I were to shop, I'd go to a mall, thank you very much. Anyway, at some point Instagram ads (especially the autoplaying video kind, with sound) drove me crazy enough that out came jadx and apktool and I found…

I wonder why they left the debugging stuff in live release builds. Common best practice for Android is to have a separate build flavor with debug settings and layouts, and make sure they aren't included in live builds.

Re: Instagram Has Become SkyMall

#250

Post by yunohn » Sun, Jul 11, 2021, 10:02 AM UTC

throwawayswede wrote: post #244

What's tragic here is that the author is complaining about one ad-infested, tracker-infested piece of trash of a product, on another ad-infested, tracker-infested piece of trash that is Medium. Why the the fuck people still write on Medium even though it prevents people from reading content after a few times without either paying or logging in is beyond me.

There’s ads on Medium? I’ve never seen any. BTW you can easily open an article in incognito mode, to bypass the login-wall.

They do however use analytics, like any other platform that wishes to quantify engagement and provide value to their content creators.