Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 632 posts

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#101

Post by hansvm »

zarkov99 wrote: post #93
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe don't use Facebook at all? And block any and all Facebook DNS queries with a PiHole.

Can you actually use PiHole to serve DNS for your Android? I was able to direct my Linux systems to my PiHole but my Android phone seemed to not care a wit about my internal DNS.

Yes, absolutely. A few apps (notably chrome) use secure dns by default, and given the state of that ecosystem they default to their own provider. You'll need to set up secure dns on your pihole and tell chrome to use that provider (or disable it in chrome).

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#102

Post by tomjen3 »

zohch wrote: post #86
allenrb wrote: post #65

It’s almost as if, given information and a choice, people prefer not to have their eyeballs monetized. Of course, if this catches on (and I hope it does), we ultimately run up against “people prefer not to pay for things.” Will be fun to watch.

> It’s almost as if, given information and a choice, people prefer not to have their eyeballs monetized. I wonder, are people who use facebook and who would prefer to not have their eyeballs monetized like this not aware of Facebook's business model? How do they think Facebook will stay operational? I personally think it's best to just drop Facebook, but I'm sure my parents and grandparents would rather have Facebook…

Facebook has x billion users. What you do have net 0% impact on them, but a large impact on you. So people block ads and use Facebook anyway.

But a more direct answer to the question is they don't think about it, they don't care about it, or they don't want Facebook to stay in business. If Facebook crashed tomorrow I would need to start emailing a bunch of people to put together contacts but other than that it would be a net benefit.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#103

Post by nickthegreek »

jabroni_salad wrote: post #98
uvesten wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would this even be theoretically possible? I mean, if you know someone’s personal details, they per definition has lost that privacy towards you.

Perhaps facebook could advertise to me using the data that I have put into their site directly rather than snooping on me on other websites through cookies.

Exactly. On instagram, I follow and like content on the d&d and 3dprinting hashtags, so show me related ads. But don't try and follow me around the internet to see what other sites I visit. This allows them to still personalize ads without me feeling that there is a private investigator tailing me everywhere I go.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#104

Post by zohch »

kingaillas wrote: post #96
zohch wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s almost as if, given information and a choice, people prefer not to have their eyeballs monetized. I wonder, are people who use facebook and who would prefer to not have their eyeballs monetized like this not aware of Facebook's business model? How do they think Facebook will stay operational? I personally think it's best to just drop Facebook, but I'm sure my parents and grandparents would rather have Facebook…

>How do they think Facebook will stay operational? The same way ads work in print media - the publisher doesn't have as detailed targeting info for the advertiser, and presumably would charge less.

> The same way ads work in print media

Do adds in print media not "monetize people's eyeballs" also?

> The publisher doesn't have as detailed targeting info for the advertiser, and presumably would charge less.

Okay but I was responding to a claim about adds not tracking.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#105

Post by _zzaw »

Zababa wrote: post #79
allenrb wrote: post #65

It’s almost as if, given information and a choice, people prefer not to have their eyeballs monetized. Of course, if this catches on (and I hope it does), we ultimately run up against “people prefer not to pay for things.” Will be fun to watch.

It's a bit of a cynical take, but maybe it'll help cut useless apps and help people focus on what matters a bit more. A good thing about paying for something with money is that it makes you conscious of what you're doing. When you're paying with your data, it's harder.

Agreed. And I have to wonder if online extremism would be less of a problem if sites like Facebook switched to a payment model. State-sponsored troll farms might be willing to pay for access, but most regular-Joe crazies/griefers probably would not.

(Making social media harder to access cuts both ways, of course; it's entirely possible that limiting social media to those who can pay would only amplify the voices of bad guys with money. Does make me wonder how much social media toxicity is related to these sites being totally free, though.)

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#107

Post by Tenoke »

xwolfi wrote: post #84
Tenoke wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of people find value in things like better ads or more connectivity across sites. Tracking can imrpove some services (I let maps keep my location history) and while I always use adblocks on PC, I admit to have found interesting relevant to me stores on instagram presumably because they keep data about me.

That's interesting ! They exist ! I really nearly fainted when I saw my location history on google and now that I have a firewalled Huawei with Google forbidden on it, I finally feel a bit location-safe :D And it's not that I care that americans know where I am, it's that people can just get my phone/account, people close to me, and track me, eww. I really am impressed you found relevant stuff on instagram, but I fou…

>I really am impressed you found relevant stuff on instagram

It's mostly been small alternative-type stores, typically for clothes which I'd have never even found out about otherwise but match my aesthetic presumably because they just advertise to a niche audience like me based on the data.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#108

Post by ggggtez »

aviraldg wrote: post #94
_zzaw wrote: post #67

If people opt out of what you're doing to them as soon as they're made aware you're doing it, then perhaps that's a sign that you shouldn't have been doing it in the first place. I don't even believe that 25% of users actually wanted tracking. I think a lot of people just blindly tap buttons to make annoyances go away, and these guys just hit the wrong button.

As soon as ad supported free services start shutting down because of ad blocking and lowered clickthrough rates on ads because of targeting being blocked, most people will probably start changing their minds. (The alternative being maintaining 10-20+ paid subscriptions.) For now, all this change means is that users who are opted-in to tracking are subsidising those who aren't.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that if Cable TV is any indication, things that start as subscription services will slowly begin to double-dip and you'll be paying money upfront and watching ads anyway.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#109

Post by driverdan »

zarkov99 wrote: post #93
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe don't use Facebook at all? And block any and all Facebook DNS queries with a PiHole.

Can you actually use PiHole to serve DNS for your Android? I was able to direct my Linux systems to my PiHole but my Android phone seemed to not care a wit about my internal DNS.

Yes. Set it as the DNS server to use in your router.

Re: Facebook users said no to tracking, and now advertisers are panicking

#110

Post by sarsway »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #82
pier25 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This all makes me start feeling like I might finally want an iPhone... Or maybe don't use Facebook on Android?

Or maybe don't use Facebook at all? And block any and all Facebook DNS queries with a PiHole.

Yep go delete your WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram accounts now. Takes 10 minutes. No one truly needs them. Don't make excuses why you need them. In fact these apps only hurt you. So don't hesitate, just do it. It can feel uneasy, but in only a week or so you'll be happy you pulled through.
Post reply on HN