Comments on: Like, we’re all targeted customers now

By: Shaun Roos

Shaun Roos — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 04:31:43 +0000

I’d like to start off by mentioning I work at Trader Joe’s and we sell more regular products then vegetarian. I will note, we do sell more vegetarian products than most other grocery stores though. Its not surprising to hear that many businesses are using Google and Facebook for advertising. They are the most visited and popular sites in the world. So it makes sense to follow the public. It is similar to special televised events such as the Super Bowl. Thousands to hundreds of thousands of people watch the Super Bowl. This event is also greatly known for their great commercials. Businesses pay millions of dollar for a minute of commercial time. With the world transitioning to a primarily dominated online one, businesses have to focus all their attention to popular sites in order to get as much publicity and views as possible.

By: Rachel DeHaan

Rachel DeHaan — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:52:21 +0000

The reminder that businesses like Google and Facebook are for-profit businesses that are making money off of my searches and “likes” is a good reminder. I do not know about the average person, but for me personally, when I sign on to Facebook or search something in google, it is often a mindless doing and serves more as an activity then a venture into the advertising or media world. It becomes such an accepted and normal thing that multiple advertisements and adds pop up or surface during time on social media, that I forget that those are indeed very strategic businesses with excellent tactics in monitoring my use and “likes” on Facebook so they can narrow their advertising to a more specific demographic and target population. “The button is a vehicle for what’s called ‘referral traffic.’ Advertisers and other sites report huge increase in traffic” (Willis 2012). The intervention strategies of the advertising world capitalize on social media for this very reason and because what I previously discussed. “Referral traffic”, how clever. Why would an advertisement go after a demographic that would have no interest in what they are selling? Well, they wouldn’t. Precisely why referral traffic allows the profitable advertisements to go on and find themselves viewed by a specifically targeted audience that they can be more certain will show interest and look at what is being advertised. How clever.

By: James Evans

James Evans — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:13:42 +0000

“The theory is that wary financial investors will applaud spending on social media because of its lower cost and growing reach.” This quote is the heart of the movement and transition from traditional advertisings to online social media advertising. For businesses, the opportunities and methods of advertising are vast and the cost is cheap. Given these two factors combined with the vast amount of people participating on these social networking sites, businesses can excel greatly by directing their attention to social media. Another important part of this blog was seeing Google and Facebook as dominating factors. These are two of the ways that businesses advertise and reach such vast amounts of consumers in a quick and cost efficient ways.

By: Brian Frazier

Brian Frazier — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:04:01 +0000

As I read this blog post i became intrigued because i found it interesting how advertising is very beneficial to us, THE USERS. Advertising is what keeps all these social networks free for us. Before i read this blog i used to think that advertisements on you tube, facebook, and back when myspace was popular, that they were just so annoying and that they were defeating the purpose of me enjoying the network that i was on. but now that i know its what keeps all these media sites free it makes me look at the whole concept of advertising differently

By: Ayrin Lockard

Ayrin Lockard — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:26:39 +0000

The Powerpoint “Adverstising” states that many companies are going to Facebook to target specific audiences, place ads to them, drive them to their websites, and engage those customers with promotions and events. With this, it is interesting to see how much of an impact social media sites like Facebook have had beyond just it’s primary purpose, connecting people with one another. John Vivian gives reasoning why these sites are target in the Media of Mass Communication on page 298, “Heavy consumer traffic on social networking sites like Facebook and YouTube attracts advertising.” I agree with Vivian and I do not believe that a social media site like this, or any other with the volume of hits Facebook has, could be solely committed to connecting people with one another without having some form of advertisemet. I believe advertisers see too much potential in sites like these and are willing to pay top dollar for their ads to be projected from them. It makes one wonder then, will websites ever be able to exist solely for the purpose of information or enjoyment? Or will the adverstising companies knowledge of heavy traffic of these websites and the ease of targeting an audience eventually overcome them?

By: Christine Porter

Christine Porter — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:26:58 +0000

I feel that although we are all now “targeted customers” it is worth it for us (the targeted customers) because we get to use these social media sites such as Facebook and other online sites for free. Obviously corporations such as these have to make money some how, and I honestly would rather see an annoying add every now and then, then have to pay for the services of these social media sites. So, all in all, everyone wins; the people that are using these social media sites can use them for free and the corporations can still make money by advertising, and the companies that are advertising are getting their name out there to millions of people.

By: Allisa

Allisa — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:57:32 +0000

Social media has been such a benefit to company’s who are advertising online. The extensive amount of information found on Facebook describes a user’s interests, likes, friends, and provides all of that information to advertisers. This allows a company to pinpoint their exact target market, making sure they ad is getting the most for their money, and all potential customers will view their product or service. It seems strange to some people that advertiser’s are allowed access to that information, yet users post all of that same information to hundreds of people, who they consider their “friends.”

By: Lindsey Hutcheon

Lindsey Hutcheon — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:15:06 +0000

Advertising on the internet has come such a long way, even in the past few years. Social media have even taken note of which websites you visit most often and tailor the the advertisements to fit your interests. Advertising has become manipulated into something that we are almost guaranteed to pay attention to. Facebook monitors our internet activity and provides advertisements based on what it believes we will be interested in. Vivian talks about viral advertising, which has become more prevalent in our society. It has become a way for companies to advertise at a very low cost to them.

By: Daniel Hale

Daniel Hale — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:40:26 +0000

Advertising is a necessary tool for websites like Google and Facebook to keep offering their services for free. Without advertising, websites such as Facebook would have to charge for their services which would discourage users from using the product. advertising can be irritating but they we need them just as much as they need us. advertising is a very good tool to keep people informed especially if people love exploring new things. facebook is a perfect source turn for use of advertising. with over 500 million people on facebook worldwide somebody is always bound to see what you advertise.

By: Jordan De Los Santos

Jordan De Los Santos — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:01:08 +0000

Adds on the internet have really proved that it is a world all of its own. Not because there is such a variety of adds but it is the fact that these adds are targeted directly at us individually. Its crazy to think that the internet can target any person individually. Its as if this cyberspace world can connect itself individually and uniquely to fit the needs, wants, and desires of every computer user on the planet. That being said,adds interestingly enough produce a “god-like” picture, being able to be at any place at any time to meet the needs of anybody as wherever they are. That is a scary thought. Nonetheless, its a great marketing and advertizing tool that has proved extremely effective in the last couple of years and has grown at a rapid speed.