> It's amazing how so many people who no knowledge of online advertising post so confidently in these threads. Since I have a lot of experience with targeted ads...
Since you seem to work in adtech or advertising, that famous Upton Sinclair quote probably legitimately applies to you ("It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!").
That's the big problem here. The people with the most knowledge of adtech are likely biased and untrustworthy due to their economic interests, but the people who lack that bias also have less knowledge.
What needs to happen is that you and other adtech people should volunteer to be interviewed by some deep investigative journalism piece by a place like the NY Times or ProPublica. They could take your knowledge, filter out some of the self interest, and educate the rest of us.
> Since you seem to work in adtech or advertising, that famous Upton Sinclair quote probably legitimately applies to you ("It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!").
It seems worth commenting that you could make the same argument about not listening to doctors for medical advice. In this context, it just seems like you're making an appeal against authority.
> It seems worth commenting that you could make the same argument about not listening to doctors for medical advice. In this context, it just seems like you're making an appeal against authority.
You could, but mainly against things like billing practices and perhaps the necessity of certain procedures where there might be a conflict of interest.
The problem with this approach is that it takes years to understand adtech. Reporters try to understand it but simply cannot. It would be a like a normal reporter trying to find the root cause of a financial crisis.
Below is an example of someone trying to write about ad tech, but just making incorrect claims throughout the entire blog post.
It also doesn't really make sense that every single person who works in adtech is biased, and unable to get around that. If a single person could "fix advertising" then they'd make billions of dollars by changing the entire industry.
> The problem with this approach is that it takes years to understand adtech. Reporters try to understand it but simply cannot. It would be a like a normal reporter trying to find the root cause of a financial crisis.
So you're saying we should just take whatever Wall Street says as the truth, since only insiders can really understand?
I think sometimes insiders confuse "not taking an insider perspective" with being wrong or being unable to understand.
If you think they're missing something, find an good reporter (who can understand you, find alternative viewpoints and call you on any BS), then volunteer your testimony and experience to them.
Reporters are the worst medium. They have no knowledge and no resources to get it, and they have a narrative they have to follow which skews any truth. Still plenty of adtech veterans have done interviews, and we're right here in the comments answering your questions.
Willfully choosing not to believe is on you. If you discount everyone talking about their profession because they get paid for it then you'll quickly end up with no experts on anything. People are still professionals regardless of industry. Treat them that way and you'll get clear answers.
Since you seem to work in adtech or advertising, that famous Upton Sinclair quote probably legitimately applies to you ("It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!").
That's the big problem here. The people with the most knowledge of adtech are likely biased and untrustworthy due to their economic interests, but the people who lack that bias also have less knowledge.
What needs to happen is that you and other adtech people should volunteer to be interviewed by some deep investigative journalism piece by a place like the NY Times or ProPublica. They could take your knowledge, filter out some of the self interest, and educate the rest of us.