Re: [projectvrm] Google's attempt to make a safer ad medium

[Jonathan Cobb < >]

You make some great points, and the linked article rang very true.

The long run definitely matters for the big guys (Team Signal). Brand 
trust is of utmost importance. But even they will sometimes bend things; 
see how much they can get away with (beacon/etc). it's good that we keep 
pressure on them to behave. And then there's Team Targeting for whom 
trust is of less (or no) concern; they collect and share in their own 
means that skirt the edge of legal, and maybe cross it.

I can't help but think there is a combination of tech solutions that 
become so easy and cheap that everyone just has them, it's considered a 
no-brainer. The mindset of the public somehow moves away from 
resignation to optimism and pride. The way the Tivo's 30-second skip 
fundamentally altered the TV landscape, but on a much broader scale. 
It's late, I should stop fantasizing and get some sleep.

  - jonathan.


On 6/12/15 11:52 PM, Don Marti wrote:
> begin Jonathan Cobb quotation of Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 01:58:44PM -0700:
> > On 6/12/15 10:14 AM, 'Don Marti' wrote:
> > > We know that trustworthy ad-funded organizations
> > > have been able to exist, because magazines funded by
> > > advertising have been among the most reputable and
> > > influential media organizations in the USA.
> > Agreed, but of course a key difference -- traditional magazines (and
> > TV/radio/etc), have a firewall of sorts between Sales and Content with a
> > strong set of rules/ethics governing the relationship.
> Ad/editorial separation is a great example of where
> an ethical decision is the profit-maximizing option.
>
> (Imagine that the NBA had "Big Data" based referees,
> to make sure that the winner of each game was the
> team whose media market had the largest expected
> ad revenue.  This might produce higher revenue for
> a single game or series, but would lower the value
> of future games.  An ethical referee isn't just the
> right thing to do, but also a key part of making a
> valuable product.)
> > Many Internet publications mirror this model, but some don't. Most services
> > that are not primarily publications (Google/etc), intentionally blur (or
> > outright erase) the line because there's a helluva lot of money to be made.
> > Er, I mean, a better user experience for their audience, right?
> Two strategies: targeting and signaling.
>
>    http://zgp.org/~dmarti/business/team-targeting-team-signal/
>
> Google is an interesting case because they have the
> technology to go either way. PageRank is an automated
> reputation system, and the company has a lot of skill
> in parsing and rating content.
>
> If the web became a more trustworthy,
> signaling-friendly medium, Google could prosper as
> a platform for quanitfying and putting an interface
> on signaling activity -- they're not obliged to be a
> member of Team Targeting, and could play both sides
> or switch.

--
Jonathan Cobb
CEO
Cloudstead, Inc.
http://www.cloudstead.io/

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