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

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

#121
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.

I personally wish the wording was slightly different. Something like Deny Tracking Allow Tracking instead of the "Ask app not to track" I have to read the prompt a few times to make sure i pick the right one

The strange wording may be intentionally used to stop users from skimming the way they would for more “necessary” permission prompts like camera, notifications, etc. I know it pauses me for a second longer than the others.

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

#122
post #106

cant they track by just ip address? for most, the ip address is quite unique. Apple only disallowed the unique id from being passed around right?

On Wi-Fi, you're going to have multiple people sharing one IP. On cellular... good luck.

yeah on wifi, but if your home, its only your household. i thought cellular you get a unique ip? or does the cell operator hide your ip. i'm not aware how routing on cellular works.

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

#123

The only aspect of this story which surprises me is that 25% of iOS users opted in to tracking.

I’m surprised it’s so low. These sites are used mostly for indulging in narcissism, and people who tend that direction generally prefer to have their lives be less private.

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

#124
post #47

Even with all the tracking, the generated ads still suck, showing things already purchased. This reminds me of the overhyped lead generation tools out there, they do not work as expected. Someone's financial interest is the root cause here, someone is making good money with ads. The ones who sell ads? For sure. The ones who buy adds? Not many success stories out there.

they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. i'm not in the business but i think these kinds of ads work quite well if you return the thing you just bought.

>hey wouldn't do it if it didn't work.

Now why would you go and think a thing like that?

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

#126

Even with all the tracking, the generated ads still suck, showing things already purchased. This reminds me of the overhyped lead generation tools out there, they do not work as expected. Someone's financial interest is the root cause here, someone is making good money with ads. The ones who sell ads? For sure. The ones who buy adds? Not many success stories out there.

The explanation I have heard previously is that people have bought an item are actually more likely to buy another: unhappy with the current purchase, or people who need multiple items. Sure, for most people it’s irrelevant as they are happy with their purchase, but most ads are ignored anyway.

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

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If subscriptions were always as easy to manage in one place like they are on an iPhone, I would have absolutely no problem with 20 subscriptions. Where’s the subscription management startup model?

I've thought about this a lot, but the stumbling block for me is getting services onboard.

The problem is that subscription services make billions annually on forgotten subscriptions. None of them want an easy "disable" slider next to their name in a convenient app. It also makes à la carte subing easy, where you sub for a month every few months to "catch up".

Basically, good luck getting an API with an easy unsubscribe command from any subscription based service.

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

#128
A lot of apps started to prime users before iOS asks to allow tracking by showing an innocuous screen that describes some "feature". It says something like hey, do you want us to enhance your experience by x, y, z? Or it's written like hey, just agree to the terms so you can use the app. It would be great if apps didn't have an option to show anything before this prompt.

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

#129
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.

You seem to think it’s a bad thing. I’d argue “Free” products destroy innovation. It’s extremely hard to beat gmail or Facebook without massive VC funding.

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

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If subscriptions were always as easy to manage in one place like they are on an iPhone, I would have absolutely no problem with 20 subscriptions. Where’s the subscription management startup model?

I highly doubt that most users would be comfortable paying for 20 subscriptions—or even 1.
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