The Internet Made Me Sad Today

Post by akkartik » Thu, Feb 23, 2012, 10:17 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #48

joshrice wrote: post #20

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that AdWords can target users and offer them ads based on what they think they might want. They're not always contextual. Do you like to play games Reg?

This is a very interesting point, thank you. So here’s a thought experiment: I look at this article about dinosaurs, and Google shows me an ad about mountain bike holidays. Great timing, Spring is looming and I am making plans for Summer (Google knows this from watching my search history or annual credit card spend on travel.) It’s late afternoon, when I historically am distractible (witness reading about dinosaurs d…

Post by pbhjpbhj » Thu, Feb 23, 2012, 10:20 PM UTC

crusso wrote: post #83

tlogan wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great overview of how ads work, but the rant is still valid. As the end, the environment around us will end up to be very similar to one described in the movie Idiocracy.

Yeah, but the blame the article's author espouses is misplaced. It's not Google's fault that people want to play games any more than it's the sun's fault that it's shining outside of my window on days when I need to get real work done. As usual it's easier to blame icons and officials in situations where really it's the consumers that drive these corporate decisions with their everyday decisions. Granted, Google is s…

Post by pbhjpbhj » Thu, Feb 23, 2012, 10:22 PM UTC

blake8086 wrote: post #93

raganwald wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or to put it in a word, they have “morals.” And when they talk about it, they are ”moralizing.”

Do people who disagree with you lack morals? Or are their morals wrong?

Post by signalsignal » Thu, Feb 23, 2012, 10:30 PM UTC

Post by ChuckMcM » Thu, Feb 23, 2012, 10:35 PM UTC

bhousel wrote: post #97

patio11 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really, how? Advertising is not traditionally sold on a self-service basis. It is traditionally sold via Big Enterprise Sales processes, caricatured above as "steak dinners between advertising sales and ad buyers at big brands." This is enormously big business: ever bus ad, every TV ad, most newspaper ads, etc that you've ever seen was sold this way. Google is the alternative model for advertising, and (as such) is o…

...Google is primarily an advertising company which makes excellent use of technology, not a technology company which makes good use of advertising. I absolutely agree with that, and don't really see anything controversial in that statement. I also think that Google has created more value for more people than probably any other company in history. If they are in fact an advertising company (which we agree) then the v…