What you could do if you were Google and had their databases

Re:What you could do if you were Google and had their databases by InclinedPlane on Friday March 16, 2012 @05:47PM (#3715468)

Exactly. Advertising works least well when it's spam, slightly better when it's targeted, and best of all when it's a personal endorsement from someone you trust. When Alton Brown tells you to buy Shun knives or when Penny Arcade tells you to play SW:TOR that has a lot more impact than a random ad for wicker furniture or what-have-you.

That's something that google and facebook are working towards but perhaps they are working too indirectly.

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Re:What you could do if you were Google and had their databases by mindslight on Friday March 16, 2012 @07:11PM (#3715743)

But the whole financial sell of Facebook is that they're purporting to work towards something better than targeted advertising. Due to increase in volume of communication between people, targeted advertising is going to be eclipsed by social recommendations. But Pinterest could never have been Facebook/Pin, because half of the second N in Metcalfe's law doesn't want to see dresses and shoes.

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