On Line Advertising

[imoldernu]

Today's (Sunday) 60 Minutes program was about on line advertising and the impact of what Tech companies do to capture the computer user. While a major part of the program was about the effect on the mind, and the interaction with society, an interesting side note was that online advertising has more than doubled in three years, to 31 Billion dollars.

Did you notice?

I thought that the TV advertising was bad with one minute of ads, for two minutes of program... (even worse on some, like Nascar..,. with continuous ads on the screen 90% of the time.)

Now, browsing the web means continuous clicking, just to get to what you are interested in.

Never mind that we pay for TV, and for internet access... we're at the mercy of those who wield more power than any government.

1984 was written in 1949 by George Orwell, and came to the movie theaters in 1956. Thought to be the ultimate in mind control.

How far we've come.

Am I alone?

 

[COcheesehead]

I see the other side, but I guess it depends on what you browse. Ads online seem far less obtrusive than TV commercials.

 

[Chuckanut]

Just added Duck Duck Go to my search engines for Firefox.

DuckDuckGo is the search engine that doesn't track you. This add-on makes DuckDuckGo your default search engine and includes some other useful features.

It's not as good as Google, but about 80% of the time it works just fine.

 

[COcheesehead]

Also stay off Amazon. They'll track you like white on rice or stink on manure.

 

[zinger1457]

Now, browsing the web means continuous clicking, just to get to what you are interested in.

Do you use an ad-blocker add-on for your web browser?

 

[Bestwifeever]

If you don't browse the Internet you won't see many ads.

 

[savory]

Do you use an ad-blocker add-on for your web browser?

I use an add blocker and Ghostery. But, still learning how to maximize the use of Ghostery.

 

[exnavynuke]

I run Ad-Block Plus on chrome and rarely see an ad.

 

[John Galt III]

Apparently you need to get an ad blocker! How can you stand it without one?

 

[imoldernu]

Bumping this because I think I was "off" in my original OP...
May I suggest you take 10 minutes of your time to watch the clip of the 60 minutes program.
The story is, yes, about advertising, but more about what the tech industry does to control our lives, and the possible implications of the subliminal psychology that is changing our society.
The basic concept is that the industry's reliance is on advanced algorithms to control the deep brain stem's chemical and temporal actions, Advanced mind control that is rapidly taking over our society... affecting, in particular, the way in which we relate to each other, and to the interests of industry.

So, instead of taking this thread towards ad blockers, maybe another look at the far deeper implications that are forming our day to day activities and personal interaction. Touched on in the short clip is a differentiation of effect on the elderly, Boomers, Millennials and the youngest children. In short, a work in progress, that differentiates the target impact.

The clip begins about 1 minute into the video. The story is about brain hacking.

Brain Hacking - 60 Minutes Videos - CBS News

 

[COcheesehead]

I am glad you clarified your post. The clip is much broader than just advertising. It, however, makes me chuckle a bit, because what is old is new again. Isn't what the tech companies are doing just Pavlov's dog and his famous Schedules of Reinforment?

 

[CaptTom]

Ha! I tried to review the clip.

Ghostery blocked 15 trackers. AdBlock Plus blocked 8 ads. Another plug-in stopped one HTML5 auto-play.

The vast majority of the page was cluttered with all kinds of active content that flashed and popped up other CBS content whenever I moved the mouse. The video was only one small section.

Even when I turned auto-play back on, the video didn't play on my machine. Nor will it.

I don't need to hear whatever they have to say THAT badly.

 

[COcheesehead]

Ha! I tried to review the clip.

Ghostery blocked 15 trackers. AdBlock Plus blocked 8 ads. Another plug-in stopped one HTML5 auto-play.

The vast majority of the page was cluttered with all kinds of active content that flashed and popped up other CBS content whenever I moved the mouse. The video was only one small section.

Even when I turned auto-play back on, the video didn't play on my machine. Nor will it.

I don't need to hear whatever they have to say THAT badly.

On my iPad it went right to the clip. There was one commercial at the beginning and that was it.

 

[easysurfer]

I am glad you clarified your post. The clip is much broader than just advertising. It, however, makes me chuckle a bit, because what is old is new again. Isn't what the tech companies are doing just Pavlov's dog and his famous Schedules of Reinforment?

Was thinking the same about Schedules of Reinforcement. But instead of a dog biscuit, the treat in the case of Facebook is a "Like" or post from someone we are following. Even a post from something we dislike is a form of negative reinforcement. Instead of dogs, [-] suckers [/-] people (myself included) are the guinea pigs.

In Star Trek TNG terms, I think of that episode called "The Game" (with a very young Ashley Judd), where Riker, returning from retreat brings back this video game that the crew gets hooked on playing. Before long, almost everyone gets hooked on playing.

 

[Jack_Pine]

I don't mind them. Everyone has to make money somehow.

 

[kcowan]

I found it somewhat telling that none of The Perps (Google. Facebook, Apple, Snaps et al) would respond on the air. I can totally resist beeps on my phone but that may be a generation thing. I worry about my "Pavlovian" grandchildren!

And I cannot think of any remedy unless they can have Smart Phone free hours at home and school similar to the strict hours of TV watched of an earlier generation.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Good video, thanks for the share! I have thought to myself how great it would be to just throw my smart phone in the garbage and just have some flip phone in the car for "emergencies"...it sure would reduce MY anxiety.

 

[Another Reader]

I run Ad-Block Plus on chrome and rarely see an ad.

I just installed this. What a difference! All the visually distracting junk is gone!

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

I just installed this. What a difference! All the visually distracting junk is gone!

I tried Adblock plus, but prefer Ublock Origin. It's a lighter/faster. Here's a comparison.

 

[braumeister]

AdBlock is terrific and I've used it with Safari for years, but I also use Ghostery that knocks out much of the trackers that websites use. Highly recommended in addition to AdBlock.

Every once in a while you run into a site that won't load unless you disable one or the other, but one click will do that. Then you re-enable them and continue.

 

[imoldernu]

Bump... to note the coming new ad blocker to be built in to Google...

IMHO... none too soon.

deadspin-quote-carrot-aligned-w-bgr-2

It’s not just you, online ads are getting worse. Auto-play video has become a standard, pop-ups are back in a big way and those inline ads seem accidentally clickier all the time. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is well aware of this and it’s planning to add a built-in ad blocker to the Chrome browser. If the plan is handled correctly, it could force sites to give everyone a better experience. But that’s a big “if.”

 

[Midpack]

Bumping this because I think I was "off" in my original OP...
May I suggest you take 10 minutes of your time to watch the clip of the 60 minutes program.
The story is, yes, about advertising, but more about what the tech industry does to control our lives, and the possible implications of the subliminal psychology that is changing our society.
The basic concept is that the industry's reliance is on advanced algorithms to control the deep brain stem's chemical and temporal actions, Advanced mind control that is rapidly taking over our society... affecting, in particular, the way in which we relate to each other, and to the interests of industry.

So, instead of taking this thread towards ad blockers, maybe another look at the far deeper implications that are forming our day to day activities and personal interaction. Touched on in the short clip is a differentiation of effect on the elderly, Boomers, Millennials and the youngest children. In short, a work in progress, that differentiates the target impact.

The clip begins about 1 minute into the video. The story is about brain hacking.

Brain Hacking - 60 Minutes Videos - CBS News

Good that you clarified. I watched it live, and it was about how social media and many apps actively manipulate users to get us addicted to their use (so we will watch more ads). It shouldn't/doesn't come as a surprise that these "free" products/services [-]want[/-] demand something from us.

And where the content was more benign years ago, it's designed to be more and more addictive as the years pass. Like any company, growth is a key objective. Many of these companies rely almost entirely on ad revenue, data mining and selling personal info **. Early on they could grow easily as more and more users joined in, the same pattern as the growth in smartphone sales. That avenue is closer to saturation now (again like smartphone sales), so they have to get the user base to interact more to keep growing.

You can expect they will only get more aggresssive in the years ahead.

"If you're not paying for something, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold"

** e.g. Apple, Amazon and Microsoft are distinctly different than Google or Facebook in this regard (just look at look at their revenue sources), but that may change and it's another thread.