advantage of product discovery << lying and inappropriate product suggestion noise
I appreciate the discovery aspect has some value (to customers), but I'd assert that it's always less than the latter two detractors
Of course I am of two minds on this. On the one hand, it’s useful and ads value to my business. On the other hand, I agree that in the main ads are intrusive annoying and slow down pages, serve malware etc etc. Plus the privacy implications. But for Instagram specifically, I find many ads I see useful and they are never intrusive since they are native to the platform. Instagram is a product I enjoy using and it’s free. I don’t see why the company that runs it shouldn’t make money on the product, esp since the ads they serve are (sometimes) relevant and useful and reasonable in number.
I will continue to run ad blockers on every other site though because I do not find this to be the case anywhere else besides Instagram.
For me it's not that ads are being "shoved down my throat". Even 'unobtrusive' ads are fucking annoying. They are a waste of space and bandwidth.
I have never bought anything because of an advert. If I want something, I search for a variety of competing products, compare the prices and features etc. and then choose the one that best suites my needs.
Showing me a product that exists, will never make me want to buy it. That information is completely useless to me. If I want something I will go look for it. It mustn't find me, and then assume I want it, because then I will hate it.
Please know that the more advertising I see for a product, the less likely I am to ever do business with your company. If you want my business, just provide easily accessible and clear information about all your products/services on _your_ website.