Sunday, February 28, 2016

Week 8 Reading Response

Reading some of the articles this week, I was reminded of one of my contributions last Tuesday concerning the reason I finally caved and got ad-block. I enjoyed the reading on paying for news content with privacy most because it highlighted some of the reasons I finally decided I was done being lenient with online advertising. It's the intrusiveness and the toll it takes on my browsing experience over time.

While the FCC works on regulations to curtail deceptiveness, I feel like there's a lot to be done to hone in on and regulate the actual code that makes online advertising so pervasive and annoying to consumers. For example, there should be regulation the limits the size of code that contains advertising - set by the FCC as opposed the the individual publisher. There should be code that regulates the size of code that contains tracking algorithms as well.

On principle as a visual communications major and as one of those people who actually watches the superbowl for the commercials (I know, I'm part of the problem), I generally don't mind advertising because in the middle of all the noise it generates, every once in a while, I will be accosted with something that actually stops me in my tracks with how well done it is.

However, due to the speed with which the internet is revolutionizing communication, I think advertisers - just like publishers - have been left to play catch-up and the general result has been what we see today - advertising that can no longer afford to depend only on creativity to reach its target audience but must now turn to the tactless science of user-tracking.

As the article on paying for content with privacy so eloquently puts it, user-tracking comes at you like a clown car packed with tracking code that slows down your browsing experience just to offer you ads that, in my personal opinion, don't really inspire you to purchase things you weren't already considering and as a result just end up creeping you out. It might be more effective than just taking shots in the dark but advertisers are clearly not thinking long-term. I suspect more consumers like me will be able to stomach it until the day they suddenly can't any longer.

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