Monday, March 9, 2009

Essay about Facebook

Pornographic

Tailor-made just for me! (Who do I have to talk with to end this?!?)


I hate invasive ad targeting.

I wrote an essay against it for my ethics class. I got a 103%. Ask me sometime and I'll show you.

Anyways, targeted ads have reached a new low!

After my relationship with my girlfriend came down with a bad case of the instant death, automated pictures of broken hearts offered me their "sincere", emotional support. Kill the irony!!!

My personal life is my personal issue! I was genuinely heartbroken! Do you think I wanted to see an ad like the one above? It was insulting and sad!

The ads started to show only after I got dumped, not before... so don’t call it a coincidence.

Now maybe through some fluke, you get the ads sans relationship turmoil. Doesn't matter. What happened to me assures you, and I truly, sincerely assure you, that this is ad targeting at its worst.

THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR PUTTING MY RELATIONSHIP STATUS ON FACEBOOK!!!

Don't do it, I wish I didn't...
Don't let advertisers get any more involved with your life than they already are.

Now, every time I get on Facebook I see ads on the sidebar saying things like:
"Wanna date?"
-
"Meet sexy singles in your area!"
-
"Sexy ladies are waiting for you in YOUR LOCATION!!!"
-
"Recently gone through a rough relationship? We can help!"
-
"More crap that I'm not gonna type..."

There's a little thumbs down button you can click on. When you click on it, you can tell Facebook why you didn't like their ad. Apparently, this helps them adjust there ad programming “to show more relevant ads in the future.” After 4,783 subsequent clicks (I kept count.) over a period of 3 months, I was beginning to see ads for gay men looking for a party in my area. Facebook thinks I'm gay. Not a solution to my problems...

After you click on the thumbs-down button, a list of reasons appear to tell Facebook why you did not like its sponsored advertisement...

This list CURRENTLY reads as follows:
  • Misleading
  • Offensive
  • Uninteresting
  • Irrelevant
  • Repetitive
  • and "Other"
(“Other” giving you the option to express yourself via text-field.)

In the past, it read as follows:
  • Misleading
  • Offensive
  • PORNOGRAPHIC
  • Uninteresting
  • Irrelevant
  • Repetitive
  • and "Other"

Awhile back they took “pornographic” out. No doubt because they believe none of their ads cater to the porn watching demographic. Some, IF NOT MOST, of the ads I saw were PORNOGRAPHIC! Excluding the gay ones, most of the ads looked like a picture of a hooker wearing a tight white t-shirt and short-shorts, and I know I didn't mention this earlier, but a MAJORITY of those ads told me to "hook-up with chicks in [my] area”, "Find sex mates now", and other crap! It's awful!

(Besides, they're probably scams anyway.)

And I can't stand it.
And neither should you!
Please press the thumbs down button whenever you get the chance!
Or better yet, get rid of the darn things!

Gun

1 comment:

  1. I would like to make a disclaimer for this post. I know it sounds unprofessional, and that's because it is. :P

    Understanding if you didn't like it,
    Gun

    ReplyDelete