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Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

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Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#221
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a pretty loose standard for the word “related” If you play around with definitions enough, nobody is collecting unrelated data I suppose.

It’s not a pretty loose or arbitrary standard. For example, it’s a key basis on which data sharing is regulated. The claim that it’s a weak enough definition that it doesn’t matter is inconsistent with criticism that it’s a definition which has materially impacted Facebook’s revenue.

I just don’t agree that financial data and health data are “related” simply because they were both generated on a single platform. It’s pretty easy to link any type of data at that point. All you need is for Apple to develop two apps and literally any type of data can be “related”. At that point the word “related” loses all meaning.

I think you made a poor choice of words. You probably meant 3rd party apps not related.

Regardless - I also don’t think it’s meaningfully better that Apple links financial and health data to sell Ads vs. Google or Facebook linking the same data from two external sources.

Revenue and regulations are not relevant factors in this argument.

Tbh if you are charging $1000+ for handsets.. why are you trying to scrape my data as-well or show me ads ?

Forget personalized vs. non-personalized. I paid a premium, I want an ad-free experience.

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they suppress businesses that don’t pay? By not advertising for them for free? That’s a stretch to compare it to the mafia…

The mafia metaphor seems pretty on the nose to me. If you have a page, its posts will not regularly appear in followers' feeds — that is, the feeds of people who've explicitly signaled that they want to see your content — unless you give Facebook their vig.

Most people probably subscribe to more pages (and therefore more posts) than they can actually consume the content of. It seems pragmatic that something should help the user surface more meaningful content. Suppressing commercial pages for friends content seems reasonable, and business v business is a decision where there will always be a loser.

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

basically FLOC; that's quite different than selling your PII to third-parties or targeting you based on your individual profile (i.e., you visited xxxx store so now you all of a sudden see tons of adds from that online store) not saying it's good, but it's probably the least intrusive way to do it; and many users like it. I'd rather never see an ad, but if I do have to see any, I'd prefer to see ads for watches or cy…

> (i.e., you visited xxxx store so now you all of a sudden see tons of adds from that online store) They do that also: > When selecting which ad to display from multiple ads for which you are eligible, we may use some of the above-mentioned information, as well as your App Store searches and browsing activity, to determine which ad is likely to be most relevant to you. > We may also use local, on-device processing to…

ok, I stand corrected

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#224

it's amazing....windows turned to ads...mac suddenly takes over and becomes massive in the personal computer space.....sure M1...but imho...it was because of how aggressive Microsoft became with its adware.... people want freedom....now Apple is about to step in big gaping hole it should have seen coming but the glittering pile of gold is distracting them... 3-5 years...washed up?

As long as 'growth at any cost' is the only edict that matters in the global economy, everything will tend towards advertisements and ever more aggressive tactics.

It's a race to the bottom, and it's disgusting and a humiliation for the entire human race that this is what society chooses to prioritize over its own survival.

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#225

As an Apple investor, I am happy to seem them grow an advertising business. Human attention is the ultimate analog resource. Throughout our lifetime, it will stay in high demand. It cannot be inflated away or commoditized. What I don't get is: How can Apple prevent or even detect that other apps or websites tell Facebook about what you do? If I go to example.com and example.com sends fingerprinting and useage informa…

I love how my free time and how I use it are just the ultimate analog resource to you.

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#226
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the past 5-6 years, 95%+ of HN comments believe Ads are completely useless. And small business making money with ads, ( Facebook or not ) are Facebook or Social Media's narratives. Had your account not been one from 2011, you would have been labeled as shill for Social Media.

To me the problem is that the only upside to targeted advertising seems to be "discover this niche product from a small business that can only exist because it's now cheap to advertise directly to the community it serves", but the targeted ads I get are all mega brands trying to convince me that their product is better than the competition by making me laugh or shocked. Where are all the niche products I was promised…

Where are you getting ads? I have YouTube premium so I don’t see yt ads which are more mainstream iirc. But I’m Facebook newsfeed I get a ton of off non-mainstream ads. Maybe your profile is super vague so only big companies bother to pay for your eyes.

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I read about Ramon and his wiener dog ramps when this was first submitted to HN months ago and I said the same thing then as I am now. It’s bullshit. If Ramon wants to sell wiener dog ramps, then the system to do that should be “buy adspace when people search for wiener dog,” advertise on wiener dog enthusiast forums, sponsor videos/meetups, etc. Not “create an all knowing digital surveillance system tying toge…

Yea but people don’t spend a lot of time on weiner dog forums, even weiner dog owners. People want to advertise to customers where the customers actually go . Customers actually go to Facebook not weiner dog forums. Don’t use Facebook if you don’t like the value proposition. I’m guessing most people who complain about tracking on HN don’t use Facebook properties anyways.

This is a bad arguement. People who want products and services go to Google and search for them. Then, after the purchase has been made, your web experience is filled with ads for the product you already bought.

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#229
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook likes to demonstrate how useful they are by showing traffic/revenue of people who advertise through them vs people who don't, and then say "look! The people who do it are making way more money!" Ignoring the fact that they intentionally suppress businesses who don't pay them. It's like if the mafia came by your business every week to collect their $1000 to not break your kneecaps and say "look at all the hap…

How do they suppress businesses that don’t pay? By not advertising for them for free? That’s a stretch to compare it to the mafia…

At some point they decided to basically stop showing updates to your own followers. Affected pages reported a drop of 90%+ in feed views, and the only way to reach your audience again was to boost your own posts, which is a paid service.

Re: Apple surpassed $3.5B in annual revenue from its ad network

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they suppress businesses that don’t pay? By not advertising for them for free? That’s a stretch to compare it to the mafia…

At some point they decided to basically stop showing updates to your own followers. Affected pages reported a drop of 90%+ in feed views, and the only way to reach your audience again was to boost your own posts, which is a paid service.

I run a business. Our reach per post , on FB, is 30-40% of our followers.

The reason for this is we don’t just post 24-7 about how amazing we are.

We post 1-2x a week, and our followers genuinely like us and are fans of the business.

So… the changes on FB haven’t impacted all businesses in such a negative way.

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