OT: clicking ads

[J. Dan]

So I did a paid Ad on FB for an upcoming event. I accidentally selected the entire US instead of just the county where the event will be. It took a couple days for me to notice - I was getting people accepting the event from all over the country.

 

It seems to me that online advertising is only effective if it's extremely focused - in this case, you see what looks like a good band is playing at your neighborhood bar. I can't imagine why somebody from NY would click (other than curiosity), and especially click that they are attending.

 

I've clicked ads by accident before, but I don't think ever on purpose. How about you?

[Joe Muscara]

My vote was based on my assumption that you mean FB ads.

[Six-string-man]

Even more OT than your OT!

 

I accidently clicked on an ad on Amazon. (well, I clicked on it without reading the small print).

 

 

A few days later, I got a bill for £49 ($85). I had signed up for video streaming, when all I wanted was 24 hour delivery.

 

Luckily, when I explained, Amazon cancelled my subscription, and refunded me.

 

 

SSM

[J. Dan]

I accidentally click ads either when trying to scroll the page on my iPad, or trying to touch the tiny X in the corner of one of those annoying ads that block the page you're trying to view.

[JAD]

I'm not sure how to answer this. I have clicked yes, a few times intentionally, but for every one of those I have there are 100,000 I've ignored.

[J. Dan]

I guess the reason why I'm asking this is that ads on web sites in general are getting to be more and more prolific. Pages sometimes are more ads than content, to the point that it's annoying. They attempt to make them targeted by tracking your traffic - look at a mixer on Sweetwater.com, and next thing you know, Facebook has a bunch of mixer ads on it. I personally never click these ads. But obviously SOMEBODY is clicking them or else they wouldn't be spending money on them. However, given that I've done it by accident, I wonder how much of the revenue generated is due to accidental clicks. I mean, I paid for the people in NY who are supposedly going to my gig Friday because they clicked it. The way FB does it now, ads show up on your timeline as "suggested" or something. If they're clever and it looks like something interesting that could have been posted by one of your friends, it's easy to accidentally click it. Maybe somebody in NY thought - cool, I'd like to see that band, and clicked not realizing it was in St. Louis. But I also wondered how many people really actually look at the ads and click on them. Right now it's about even between yes and no, with double each of those saying accidentally. I realize that's a very small, non-representative sample, but that would suggest that 2/3 of all ad clicks are accidental.

[richforman]

It's funny how the targeted ads sometimes don't really seem as diabolically clever as we might think they are. I've noticed that if you search for, or look at, one particular type of thing, because you want or need it that day, find it and buy it, well, your browser is just flooded seemingly permanently with ads for that exact same thing or others like it, as if your whole life revolves around a never-fulfilled insatiable drive to buy that product forever. They don't seem to have built into the algorithm the possibility that you only needed it on that particular day, and then just got it and moved on with your life. It's both annoying and makes me chuckle.

[MAJUSCULE]

I don't really click through on anything other than local gigs. So, for me, Dan, you'd be spending your money judiciously. (Once you limit it to your county! )

[J. Dan]

I don't really click through on anything other than local gigs. So, for me, Dan, you'd be spending your money judiciously. (Once you limit it to your county! )

 

Yep, I screwed up with the initial submission of the ad. I usually do within 25 mi of the establishment, which I figure is targeted well enough. Anybody on FB in that area is familiar with the bar, us, or both. And considering it's pay per click, I figure in most cases I'm getting a decent return. Even if they click and end up not going, I got their attention at least, which could end up getting them to another show down the road. We've gotten new page likes from that (I assume since they weren't "friends" with anyone in the band, and joined during an ad campaign).

[Tom Williams]

It's funny how the targeted ads sometimes don't really seem as diabolically clever as we might think they are. I've noticed that if you search for, or look at, one particular type of thing, (...)

 

Case in point: a few months ago I bought a $17 Pyle Pro audio cable tester -- functional, cheap as dirt, and solid as a rock. I now get cable testers constantly thrown at me on photography and news sites. Oh, and in e-mail from Amazon.

[J. Dan]

In England they are experimenting with facial recognition software that will eventually make its way here. So those screens they have up at the gas pumps and in airports....same thing, it recognizes your face and puts an ad up for the last thing you browsed on the internet.

 

I can see it now, somebody goes online looking at sex toys, and next thing you know, they're pumping gas and a dildo pops up on the screen. Everybody else at the gas station looks at them like "what have YOU been shopping for?"