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Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

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Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#61

Post by foobar1962 »

moksly wrote: post #20

I’m not on Instagram, but I don’t think this issue is really confined to social media. I’ve become quite concerned about is how advertising is drowning out useful information everywhere else as well. We recently had a baby girl, our first, and this has lead to quite a lot of internet searching. I’ve been completely unable to find anything resembling an authentic answer on google. It’s all commercial content trying to…

A while before the social media platforms emerged were bulletin boards which morphed into web based forums. You know, the one you sign-up and post to, that are usually focussed on some defined topic.

Web forums are still great places to engage with real people and real opinions. I'm expecting that web forums will remain after the social media giants are privacy-legislated out of existence.

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#62

Post by dewey »

tty2300 wrote: post #39
snaky wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what happened to the actual people on the internet? People sharing their stories without getting paid to push a product? Good old webforums. They are alive and well.

Sort of. Unfortunately most of them moved to unsearchable Facebook groups.

I think these are mostly the more loose groups, the "real" communities are still in the forums. The more niche / dedicated it gets the more likely is it to have a forum.

To be fair I only have experience with old car restoration groups but there may be some FB groups where people post selling / buying things but the real discussion is still in old-school vbulletin style forums.

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#63

Post by mruts »

thundergolfer wrote: post #37

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this yet, but the photo of Gretchen referenced as a "candid shot" at the very start of the article (and shown on right a bit lower down) is anything but. There's at least 5 (!) different kinds of branded 'Hills Bros' merch filling the shot. It's hugely obvious that it's an ad. Weird leading example for an article included "Do you know it when you see it?" in the title.

I was thinking the same thing. I don’t think anyone was trying to deceive anyone.

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#64

Post by icebraining »

_nalply wrote: post #47

About advertising in general: we know it is sort of a prisoner's dilemma. If only nobody did advertising... Only trustworthy and non-promoting information about products findable by search (pull instead of push)... It would also be a lot cheaper for the companies.

But what about the apps for plumbers? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20134887

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#65

Post by albertgoeswoof »

tty2300 wrote: post #42
AmericanChopper wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Kim Kardashian gets paid to post a photo wearing a brand, is that an ad? What if she just gets paid to wear a brand for the day, and it happens to make it onto Instagram? And why stop there? If a TV show or Movie has some product placement in it, should a ‘sponsored content’ subtitle be displayed every time the product appears? Trying to protect people from content is an endless rabbit hole of ineffective strategi…

Make it a legal requirement to mark paid promotions and anyone found to be doing paid promotions without marking it is at risk of huge fines. I recall that in the UK, TV programs are already required to do this.

Not even a fine, just kick them off Instagram. For an influencer that’s their entire life gone in one move

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#66

Post by albertgoeswoof »

antpls wrote: post #25
albertgoeswoof wrote: post #21

It would not be difficult for FB to add a “Ad” type for posts and be strict about enforcing this. But they won’t do that because it will expose the platform for what it really is.

It is actually quite difficult to enforce. You would need to have access to bank accounts of people to make sure they didn't received money for their stories. And even then, there are other forms of benefits, such as free passes, free products, etc ("gift") which leave no trace

No- you just have a human look and make some judgements for a few cases as an example. If these influencers knew there was a real threat of getting kicked off the platform for lying to their followers they wouldn’t do it

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#67

Post by Theodores »

minikomi wrote: post #26

This is really disturbing. It made me rethink who I'm following.. I'm going to go through my feed, with a good cup of Hill Brothers cappachino mix (my favourite is the classic!) and really look hard at who's worth keeping in my followed list.

You forgot to post your affiliate link for Hill Brothers!

I jest but isn't that drink something:

Sugar, Nondairy Creamer (Partially Hydrogenated Coconut Oil and Soybean Oil, Corn Syrup Solids, Sodium Caseinate (a Milk Derivative), Dipotassium Phosphate, Sugar, Mono and Diglycerides, Silicon Dioxide, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Soy Lecithin, Artificial Color, Artificial Flavor), Nonfat Dry Milk, Instant Coffee, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Cocoa Powder (Processed with Alkali), Silicon Dioxide and Sodium Aluminosilicate (to Prevent Caking), Carboxymethylcellulose, Salt.

How do we get sold into buying this stuff? Instagram? Inadvertent product placement on HN?

Seems that the product is cheaper than take out Starbucks, so it is a deal. But is it?

I drink tea (I am British) and my preference is for the cheap stuff. So that means the 40 Fair Trade bags for 50p from one store or 80 non-Fair-Trade bags for 58p ($1) from the other store. No milk, no sugar and certainly no Dipotassium Phosphate needed.

$4.99 for 15 cups? That is 33 cents per go. I am sure I could get hooked to it. To cost myself $2.50 a day or approximately $17 dollars a week more than my current beverage costs (ignoring electricity). That is getting on for $900 a year for getting Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate and the like into my arteries!

But, the Hill Brothers delicacy is still a bargain compared to one Starbucks treat a day.

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#68

Post by eswat »

ignoramous wrote: post #18

It is getting increasingly difficult to guage what's native advertisment and what's not. It is not just social media or e-commerce websites but the enthusiast blogs, review sites, and YouTube channels doing sutble paid pieces. The erstwhile online forums driven by volunteers and like-minded individuals are the only last known place remaining that don't seem to have hidden agendas. And I dread their demise. The eterna…

I just assume that if a product is mentioned descriptively by someone I don't know well—[product name] is a [category] that will [benefit]—and I can easily purchase it online, it's being advertised.

Maybe it's my past-experience of knowing many people in an MLM once and seeing the differences between them being themselves and them “working on their business”.

Maybe the answer to understanding what authentic advertising is, is being exposed to all sorts of it more, in a safe environment where your money doesn't evaporate, and being able to reflect and think critically about what you're experiencing and what the intentions of the other party are.

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#69

Post by pwodhouse »

snaky wrote: post #30
moksly wrote: post #20

I’m not on Instagram, but I don’t think this issue is really confined to social media. I’ve become quite concerned about is how advertising is drowning out useful information everywhere else as well. We recently had a baby girl, our first, and this has lead to quite a lot of internet searching. I’ve been completely unable to find anything resembling an authentic answer on google. It’s all commercial content trying to…

> what happened to the actual people on the internet? People sharing their stories without getting paid to push a product? Good old webforums. They are alive and well.

Marketers haven't overrun those like they have on reddit?

Re: Instagram Advertising: Do you know it when you see it?

#70

Post by pwodhouse »

fouc wrote: post #45
moksly wrote: post #20

I’m not on Instagram, but I don’t think this issue is really confined to social media. I’ve become quite concerned about is how advertising is drowning out useful information everywhere else as well. We recently had a baby girl, our first, and this has lead to quite a lot of internet searching. I’ve been completely unable to find anything resembling an authentic answer on google. It’s all commercial content trying to…

It would be nice if there was a whole segment of the internet that people used that was completely ad-free. Something that a network of blogs, forums, etc could be on. Server costs could be carried by donations.

How would you enforce that? How would you find and ban AstroTurf? (Thank you, Google GBoard, for the marketing autocorrect built-in)
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