Reddit forces personalized ads, starts X-like user payment program
arstechnica.com
Like it or not, Reddit wants to "improve ad performance."

I left a couple of months ago. Couldn’t be happier.

The writing is on the wall. The leader thinks the Genius-with-hair-transplants is a superstar, despite destroying a globally recognised brand. Inspired by this, Spez is trying to get Reddit ready for an IPO. This means, maximise profits by any means.

  • Ertebolle@kbin.social
    1002·
    1 year ago

    I love how everybody is so busy about mining your behavior for ad tracking data and then like 2/3 of the ads I actually see are utterly irrelevant gut doctor / toenail fungus / 17 Most Embarrassing Topless Celebrity Moments crap.

    (I think the reality is that they’re mining that data to identify a small number of people susceptible to high-value scams - like getting addicted to an F2P mobile game and spending $1000s on it - and the rest of us just get generic infill)

    • maegul (he/they)@lemmy.mlEnglish
      37·
      1 year ago

      Yea it feels like something has been rotten with the ads industry for a long while. I’ve read a few pieces here and there about how it could collapse and that it’s built almost entirely on dumb lies. But it’s still here.

      I’m no economist, but my best guess is that it’s a little like war and the effort we put into it. Complete trashy waste almost all the time, except for when one person or country decides to put effort into it, because then you have to as well or run huge risks. We’d all be better off without ads, including brands/companies, but when one is doing it every company has to too.

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Ads are meant to get brand recognition out there for most things. Then when you’re in a store you buy what you’ve heard of before. They wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t effective.

        • dangblingus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          You’re putting too much faith in the talent and insight of marketing executives. Large companies throw tens of millions of dollars at their marketing department. They’ll spend the money on a diverse ad campaign that ticks boxes, not one that is actually effective. People don’t buy based on the commercial they saw last. People buy what’s shoved in their faces.

            • CustodialTeapot@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              Absolutely spot on reply.

              Brand recognition and memory triggers is what big brand ads are about.

              Cleanex, Hoover, Coke, most cologne/perfume ads, Old Spice…

              • JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.eeEnglish
                0·
                1 year ago

                Brand recognition and memory triggers is what big brand ads are about.

                Cleanex, Hoover, Coke, most cologne/perfume ads, Old Spice…

                Late reply, but-- the above makes much sense to me when it comes to inexperienced / first-time buyers of a product. And/or buyers who simply get in to a rut and keep buying that product without trying anything else out.

                But for everyone else, I would think they sample enough tissues, sodas, perfumes, etc to gain an understanding of the ins & outs of a product, settling on choices which best represent their favorites / desired price point. For bigger-cost stuff like vacuum cleaners, I’m thinking people in this group also learn to use review resources to evaluate best choices rather than buy a Hoover just because some ads ran.

                So what does this all mean? Aside from overlap between these two groups, that there’s enough revenue being produced by the former childlike group such that ad systems can afford to almost completely ignore the latter, more adult group…?

        • Scubus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          With very, very few exceptions, any time I see an ad I make a mental note to never buy that product. As such, most products I am familiar with(presumably because I saw an ad) I will not buy. The exception is pretty much just Hershey’s chocolate bars, I can’t live without them.

        • Ann Archy@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          And by definition it’s still nothing but systematic brain washing. It’s actually very 1984, and I can’t understand how some people are ok with being manipulated into buying shit 24/7 and think that global perpetual invasive advertising is this perfectly normal thing that humanity has always had around…

          • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            I think capping it 1984 is a bit extreme, but I do agree with the overall sentiment. We’ve gone wag overboard in trying to monetize evert aspect of modern life. It gets old.

    • burningmatches@feddit.ukEnglish
      8·
      1 year ago

      Your data isn’t just being sold to advertisers. There are all kinds of companies that are willing to pay big bucks to get near real-time insights into consumer behaviour, prices, manufacturing and anything else that can be tracked somehow.

      Edit: And there’s a near 0% chance that you’re not part of a dataset that’s being sold to someone, somewhere…

    • Mkengine@feddit.deEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Why don’t you use applications, plugins and/or DNS settings to never see any ad?

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldEnglish
      01·
      1 year ago

      I love how everybody is so busy about mining your behavior for ad tracking data and then like 2/3 of the ads I actually see are utterly irrelevant gut doctor / toenail fungus / 17 Most Embarrassing Topless Celebrity Moments crap.

      Have you had yourself checked out for toenail fungus bro? Might be a thing.