Advertisements, somehow simultaneously something that makes the internet both great and annoying. I know many people (including myself) that find them to be both disruptive and also just plain obnoxious sometimes. Of course, some advertisements aren't too annoying at all. Text ads and even some banner ads are perfectly fine. Others however, not so much (I'm looking at you YouTube). Other possibly like-minded people have taken it upon themselves to react to all these ads; with some surprising and even worrying results.
Before we talk about said results lets discuss the ways they have created to combat ads. First and foremost is a program called AdBlock, which we briefly discussed in our presentation. Essentially what it does is find where the ad is located on each page and stops it from loading. Over time it has become more and more advanced and can even block video ads on streaming websites as well as more advanced ads.
There is also a device called Ad Trap which you simply plug into your computer/internet and boom, all ads erased from view. It cost a pretty penny (about 139$) but is easy to set up and works better than any free ad blocking services at the moment. CNN wrote and filmed about it.
So what about those effects? Some people say they are negligent, while others go so far to tout it as theft and destructive. For the most part big companies such as Google and Facebook have remained rather silent about the whole thing. Luckily, the amount of ad blockers is far smaller than users so these large companies can absorb the losses without so much of a groan. Who this really hurts are those who aren't billion dollar companies, be it people or small businesses. People can be losing anywhere from a couple bucks to thousands of dollars simply from ad blocking.
Should you be worried about this? Not too much honestly, but as time goes on and more younger users join the internet, the more people use ad blocking. It is eventually going to create an outlash from the larger companies as they start to lose more and more income from ad blocking. And of course, all the free niceties that advertising allows may begin to shrink away, or worse, cost us money. Hopefully this will never be the case, but consider asking yourself if you would be willing to pay for a website like youtube or facebook at the cost of all those annoying advertisements. Would you be willing to trade?
I can think of very few times that I have intentionally clicked on an online advertisement, but most of those provided unintended consequences. They took me to sites I really wasn't looking for and made it impossible to get back to where I started from. Now, if I see and advertisement that interests me I open a separate browser and go directly to the website for that company. I just feel more confident that I will get where I intended to be that way. I would honestly not want to pay for facebook and youtube, but I probably would if it ever came to that.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I probably would pay too. But perhaps removing those long video ads might be worth it? I'm not too sure, but either way these companies need to get paid. I think they know as well that most people will pay. Perhaps they hope it won't get to that point
DeleteIn order to keep most sites operating they need money, thus they have no other option than to use the freemium strategy where for the users that are on a free account have to accept that they are going to have to suffer through some ads unless they upgrade to the premium for a monthly or annual fee. It sucks, but it's the same with television. With TV you can go from the most ads (basic cable) to the least (DVR or Tevo) where you can record and fast forward through commercials. I think ads are inevitable and to me aren't that annoying, thus I think upgrading to premium on facebook and youtube is a waste.
ReplyDeleteIt would most certainly be a waste, but I was more or less trying to get across that some companies might be forced to make people pay for services. I'm trying rather hard not to choose sides; neither seems too good to stand on. Basically, either we learn to live with annoying ads or we pay for services.
DeleteThis is very useful information. I never knew that such ad blocking programs exist. Although these programs provide a very useful service, I'm sure they aren't attracting enough customers to concern the big corporations who rely so heavily on advertising revenue. If these programs become too successful, there will certainly be a backlash from big corporations.
ReplyDeleteExactly, right now its only really tech savvy people (or just people in the know) who are using them. These ad blocking services are trying to expand their market, but I don't think it will reach a tipping point for a long time.
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