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How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

slate.com

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Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#111

Post by markild »

lucisferre wrote: post #86
orangethirty wrote: post #59

I stumbled into some weird data as to how startups may be able to use this kind of technique without exploiting people. Yeah, it sounds hard to believe. But you have to understand that every technique out there can be used for good. Anyhow, turns out that there are some tricks that these type of advertisers use to increase their response. One just needs to carefully read the source of their pages (specially the Javas…

The value of "tricked" clicks vs. relevant clicks seems dubious to me.

Agreed. I found the goal of this comment obvious from the second sentence.

I do find that I click links like this, simply out of the curiosity of seeing what exactly I'm being nudged into consuming/buying.

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#113

Post by ig1 »

eli wrote: post #20
MartinCron wrote: post #11

I would feel a lot better about Slate (and everyone else) if they didn't run those "SPONSORED FROM AROUND THE WEB" pseudo-article links at the bottom of each page with this exact same kind of manipulative ads in them. Come on Slate. You think better of your audience than this, right?

That's Outbrain: http://www.outbrain.com/engage/ In theory the ads are targeted to the content of the site, but I agree that they're often pretty crummy.

As far as I can tell, that's not Outbrain, Outbrain is the "More from Slate" / "From Around the Web" section.

The "SPONSORED FROM AROUND THE WEB" section appears to be a standard ad panel from Content.ad.

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#114

Post by dan1234 »

orangethirty wrote: post #59

I stumbled into some weird data as to how startups may be able to use this kind of technique without exploiting people. Yeah, it sounds hard to believe. But you have to understand that every technique out there can be used for good. Anyhow, turns out that there are some tricks that these type of advertisers use to increase their response. One just needs to carefully read the source of their pages (specially the Javas…

> 16 clicks on 2 minutes.

How many people usually click on the links in comments? Unless you have something to compare it with, your experiment is not useful.

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#115

Post by eli »

ig1 wrote: post #113
eli wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's Outbrain: http://www.outbrain.com/engage/ In theory the ads are targeted to the content of the site, but I agree that they're often pretty crummy.

As far as I can tell, that's not Outbrain, Outbrain is the "More from Slate" / "From Around the Web" section. The "SPONSORED FROM AROUND THE WEB" section appears to be a standard ad panel from Content.ad.

You're right!

I thought "From Around the Web" was what we were talking about, but of course there are multiple similar blocks of paid links.

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#116

Post by king_jester »

corin_ wrote: post #74
username223 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Scams aside", your scam would work as well as theirs.

It's not a scam because of the way they hook users, it's a scam because the end product doesn't work. If callmeed has a genuine, decent product at the end of it then his version wouldn't be a scam, even if he marketed it the same way as these guys.

It's a scam because it deliberately attempts to undermine the reader's ability to determine if the product being sold is factually able to do what it says. These techniques take advantage of distorting information literacy in order to make a sale, regardless of the effectiveness of the product.

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#117

Post by vidarh »

rhizome wrote: post #68
timcederman wrote: post #43

Reminds me a lot of the X10 ads that used to be everywhere in late-90s/early 2000s.

It was more recent than that, and there was a great deal of overlap with Netflix's popunder ads (which still persist to this day).

X10 came online in '96, and their most aggressive campaigns peaked around 2001. They filed for chapter 11 in 2003:

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1014_3-5095260.html

I don't know if they emerged or if the remains were bought, but the "current" X10 never got anywhere near as aggressive as their pre-chapter 11 self.

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#118

Post by euroclydon »

lostlogin wrote: post #102
xeper wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in Utah. Living there taught me at least one thing that helps me deal with certain types of more fanatical or difficult people I meet and deal with on a near daily basis: Everyone wants to be part of a secret society or have some esoteric knowledge that makes them feel set-apart from the norm. Unfortunately, this is incredibly easy to exploit and I've watched nearly every member of my family get taken in by…

Jesus!

The gospel of Jesus is a poorly kept secret.

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#119

Post by emhart »

orangethirty wrote: post #59

I stumbled into some weird data as to how startups may be able to use this kind of technique without exploiting people. Yeah, it sounds hard to believe. But you have to understand that every technique out there can be used for good. Anyhow, turns out that there are some tricks that these type of advertisers use to increase their response. One just needs to carefully read the source of their pages (specially the Javas…

Some of us just click because we like seeing the punchline :)

Re: How 'One Weird Trick' Conquered The Internet

#120

Post by X4 »

GhotiFish wrote: post #87
X4 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say nice try, but after seeing your EDIT, I'm shocked that it works that good.

Percentage of those clicks that were bots? Eh? Also, this context is far removed from any real world scenario. Cracked did a decidedly low brow version of it, everyone clicked through, just because they wanted to see what stunt they would pull. If you know it's going to be a joke, you might as well see the punchline.

using curiosity against you.
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