Post #10: Do you feel that you see too many suggested posts in your News Feeds？

 I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Facebook advertising has rapidly increased. My newsfeed now consists of strange promoted upcoming events, ‘most shared’ posts from the businesses I do follow, and endless business page suggestions from companies I’ve never even heard of – something has happened, and people are noticing.

These days when a friend likes a business, it shows up as a full on post ‘Tom likes Business Page x’ sprawled across your page. These adverts are getting to people, there are too many of them. Yet businesses love the new Facebook advertising options Otherwise why would Facebook be doing all of these intrusive changes?

It’s clear that because these Facebook advertising are working, Facebook wants to make more of them. They want a diverse range of ads to suit all people, all budgets, across the world. That’s how they will increase their revenue. As ads become more social, they are also becoming more interactive and engaging.

Richard Greenfield, a media and entertainment analyst for BTIG Partners says that he wasn’t a fan of the suggested posts that users have seen in News Feeds, which are targeted based on demographics and Web activity, rather than what the user has done on Facebook. He then commends that: It’s just what Yahoo does. That’s just what AOL does. What makes Facebook special was supposed to be the data on social. Instead, they’re reverting back to what all of the other websites do … It just makes Facebook a lot less special, and it probably deserves a lot less of a premium multiple, because that data just isn’t as good as you thought it was. It’s looking less and less like Facebook and more and more like “Spambook.” You’re seeing ads that just don’t seem terribly relevant to the target audience.

So, do you think Facebook advertising has gone too far? Will this spam-like advertising campaign lessen the time you spend on Facebook? Do you think Facebook has a promising future?

Citation:

"Has Facebook Advertising Gone Too Far? Here Comes The Spam!" Social Media Marketing University Has Facebook Advertising Gone Too Far Here Comes The Spam Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.

"AllFacebook Newsletter." AllFacebook. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013.

Blog #9: Advertising Trends For The not-so-future, Future

            The tides are changing in the marketing arena, especially from the aspect of Internet advertising. Cold calling, spamming, and trade shows are all old school, they are too ineffective and costly for companies to utilize in this new era of marketing. Outbound marketing all together is antiquated and/or going out of style to make room for its predecessor, inbound marketing. Outbound marketing is exactly the types of advertising methods I listed above plus many other styles. Along with inbound marketing there is going to be a host of new ad ideas to emerge with the growing need for privacy, mobility, and direct marketing. Some thoughts that should be buzzing around marketing department heads are diversification, digestibility, ad retargeting, and ultra specific content. These thoughts are what is going to shape the new age of advertising. All of these may be mostly intuitive but it is just that reason that they will work. The technology we have come to know and not be able to live without is reforming the way companies are reaching us as consumers.

            These big, profit hungry companies are going to have to diversify their outreach to the consumer base. With many people operating on more than one social network or similar username-password sites it is becoming more efficient to advertise across a broad array of these website as opposed to putting all your eggs into one basket. Also, to aid in the cost of advertising on different platforms there is a shift to make advertising material easily digestible for the reader. Too much clutter and reading and you will lose your client. This means that advertising should become a little less expensive for the companies.

The future of advertising may also possibly take a turn for a more simplistic, quick, and image based style. This is due to the fact that the world is only becoming faster paced and people don’t have time to dive into an advertisement to discern what product is being marketed. Consumers want to see what the product is at a glance and not have to waste time. We can tie this back into diversifying advertisement because if you only spend a fraction of a second overlooking an ad but see that ad or one similar a couple of times a day you begin to grow some brand recognition which is exactly what was intended. Obviously the ads that you will come across while you browse the web aren’t random. They are specifically targeted to you and tailored to what firms believe you will be most interested in. Specific marketing will overtake most of the content marketing in the near future solely because companies do not want to throw away their money to advertise unless it is going to generate revenue. The last technique we will begin to see is known as retargeting. Retargeting is a feature where companies will track you after visiting their site without any transaction being made and serve you advertisements in the websites you visit from there on out, further specifying the content marketed toward the consumer.

All of these techniques are the guidelines for effective advertising in the future with an emphasis on consumer-specific targeting. We can only assume the Internet at home and mobile browsing will become transparent as well. Don’t plan on being left alone by the big firms out there chasing your buck, but at least there a chance that you will be marketed something you have always wanted.

DeMers, Jayson. "The Top 7 Online Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014." Forbes. 09 17 2013: 2. Web. 30 Oct. 2013. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/09/17/the-top-7-online-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/>.

Blog #8: The Internet is Yours Again...Or is it?

        Are you tired of being swamped by ads while accessing the Internet on your computer or phone? How about when you have to wait before watching a video on Youtube? Well, there may be a solution!

That solution is AdTrap. Invented by Chad Russell and Charles Butkus, this $139 device prevents online advertisements from reaching your device, be it your computer, tablet, or mobile phone. This all-encompassing capability is what makes AdTrap different from your typical software or browser plug-in, which only block advertisements for a particular device or software. 

No longer will you have to wait 30 seconds to watch a video on Youtube, or be annoyed by ads while reading an online article. But if you enjoy Hulu, then you won’t be able to escape the ads quite yet. Along with Hulu, there are a few sites where AdTrap doesn’t work, an issue that the creators are working to solve. AdTrap is a great solution to most online ads, but it could come at a price.

Advertisements make it possible for many websites to offer their content free of charge. With the implementation of AdTrap, websites may be forced to charge users a fee in order to access their content. 

So what do you think? Do you like this new invention? Does being free of advertisements outweigh having to potentially pay a fee to access a website’s content?

AdTrap website: http://www.getadtrap.com

Source:

- Simon, Dan. “The device that could change the Internet.” CNN. 29 September 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/28/tech/ad-trap-internet-ad-blocker/>

Blog #7: Are Consumers Becoming the New Product?

Blog #7: Are Consumers Becoming the New Product?

Article Source:

“Who Do Online Advertisers Think You Are?”; written by Jeffrey Rosen

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/magazine/who-do-online-advertisers-think-you-are.html?pagewanted=all

     This was actually a pretty interesting article, originally written for the NY Times by Jeffrey Rosen. Rosen discusses how internet users are tracked and placed into any number of different market segments, based on their predicted interests and purchasing powers. Companies then bid for the right to advertise to those consumers they are targeting, deciding what ads the consumers are exposed to. In this sense, we the consumers have actually become the product as companies are sold pieces of our attention.

     Rosen says that the problem with this kind of advertising is that people are never exposed to anything new. As our lives become more ‘customized’ according to our current interests and ability to buy stuff, all we will see is things that we are already interested in or can afford to buy. It will be hard to break the cycle once it has been put into place, because of our having been broken down, analyzed, and organized into tiny little consumer boxes. Rosen suggests that not only are companies not necessarily accurately categorizing people, but that the strategy itself could lead to exclusionary practices, price discrimination, and negative profiling. 

     Also, this “real-time bidding” strategy is not limited to advertising. Rosen adds that the news media is employing the same practice in providing news to internet users. Based on predictions of what the news outlet thinks we want to read about, we’re being spoon fed biased information based on our preferences, rather than being exposed to the full spectrum of information. 

     To me, this practice is eerily reminiscent of “Brave New World”, in which people are categorized and shaped according to their predetermined place in the universe, and information is withheld from those deemed ‘unworthy’. In this case, when consumers are the products, some of us are judged as being of no value and aren’t getting any bids. In short, nobody wants to pay to advertise to us.

    What do you guys think about real-time bidding? How does it make you feel to think that what you search for online will impact the ads you’re exposed to in the future? Do the benefits of having customized advertising outweigh the negatives?

     I encourage you to read the article before responding! It is actually very insightful and interesting, and offers up more information than what I have chosen to highlight here.

Blog #5: Internet Cookies - Spyware?

Have you ever been surfing the web and come upon Internet advertising that provides a solution for something that you’ve been researching lately? The fact is, it almost certainly wasn’t a coincidence. Behavior-based Internet advertising is a relatively new and very powerful way for advertisers to get their message in front of potential buyers that they know to be qualified.  The question is, how does it work?

To answer the question, we'd better have a brief idea of what are Internet cookies and how Internet cookies work. Basically, Internet cookies are small text files deposited on a computer hard drive when a user visits Web sites, so cookies are not program. Internet cookies identify the visitor’s Web browser software and track visits to the Web site. That means when you return to a site that has stored a cookie, the Web site software will search your computer, find the cookie, and "know" what you has done in the past. Internet cookies are sometimes mentioned as an evil and intrusive spying program that will steal your privacy on the Internet, or as a harmless device that will just make your experience with Internet better.Which assertion is right? Or they are both correct, which one is more fairly describe the Internet cookies?

The reason why you always see ads that you have been searching is because you are behavioral targeted, which is possible by the function of Internet cookies. When a consumer visits a web site, the consumer's visiting allows sites to collect that data, and create a 'profile' that links to that visitor's web browser. As a result, site publishers can use this data to create defined audience segments based upon visitors that have similar profiles. When visitors return to a specific site or a network of sites using the same web browser, those profiles can be used to allow advertisers to position their online ads in front of those visitors who exhibit a greater level of interest and intent for the products and services being offered.

So apparently there are pros and cons of internet cookies' usage. The good things are, by using some sophisticated cookies, the website servers can, to some degree, "customize" your website using and make your visiting more smoother. The bad things are your information is gathered by some companies or government, however those information may not be secret, it's always not so comfortable for at least somebody that their privacy is known by others, and your name is on a mass advertising list. What's worse, the internet cookies could be abused in several ways, an example would be: it is easy to probe through the browser and other program's data to get a general idea of what a user is doing online or where they are shopping. Likewise it will show if a user's machine has been connected to a URL that serves inappropriate content. 

The good news is you can block certain cookies, or simply delete them periodically or only after you end the browsing session. So what is your opinion towards cookies' broadly using in internet advertising? Do you want to share your Internet cookies related-experience with us, either good or bad experience? 

Sources:

http://www.spywareguide.com/articles/internet_cookies_spyware_or_ne_57.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-cookies

http://www.mediumblue.com/newsletters/internet-advertising.html

Blog #4: Microsoft's Ad-Free Search Engine

Microsoft’s Ad-Free Search Engine

I can recall a few times in middle and high school being distracted by advertisements when I would be doing research on the school’s computers. Even now I find myself becoming preoccupied searching for content from an ad when I should be doing research or homework online. To prevent this distraction, Microsoft is offering their Bing search engine without advertisements to K-12 school systems.

Microsoft introduced their Bing search engine, or Decision Engine as it is called, in June 2009. Bing’s goal is not just to provide people with information, but to help those people “accomplish tasks and make smart decisions” (Microsoft Corporation). In August, Microsoft initiated a new, free program that offers an alternative search engine created for schools K-12. 

Microsoft’s Bing for Schools program offers an ad-free search engine that is designed specifically for K-12 students, resulting in a “commerce-free zone” (Hartzer, 1). In addition to ad-free search results, the program also offers better privacy protection and strengthened filtering software. So far, only a few school systems have signed up for the program. 

The advertisers also seem to be on-board with the new program. “Advertisers that Microsoft have talked to have generally been supportive: this is net good for them, as they spend less on errant clicks from young students who are not their intended customer, and can concentrate their spend on the people who actually matter to them” (Hartzer, 1).

Have you found yourself being distracted by ads when you should be doing something else? What do you think of the Bing for Schools program? Do you think students will ultimately benefit from the program, or will they find another distraction online? Is this program really a net good for advertisers? Could you see other entities paying for this service to be free of advertisements when searching online?

Bing for Schools’ website: <http://www.bing.com/schools>

Sources:

Hartzer, Bill. “Bing for Schools: No Ads for Students.” BillHartzer. August 21, 2013. Web.  Accessed: 9/20/13. <http://www.billhartzer.com/pages/bing-for-schools-no-ads-for-students/>

Shih, Gerry. “Microsoft Offers Ad-Free Bing for the Classroom to Battle Google.”Reuters. August 21, 2013. Web. Accessed 9/22/13. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/21/net-us-microsoft-bing-education-idUSBRE97K0E620130821>

Microsoft Corporation. (2009). Microsoft’s New Search at Bing.com Helps People Make Better Decisions [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2009/may09/05-28newsearchpr.aspx.