R – E – S – P – E – C – T
p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P:- Very recently I had an enquiry from a large corporate entity asking for p2pnet advertising rates, as well as a lot of complicated data on p2pnet readers, who they are, where they are, click-through rates, and so on.
I emailed back that I didn’t have that kind of information and that privacy policies wouldn’t have allowed me to pass it on anyway.
But, I suggested, the company might nonetheless still be interested in which case, we might be able to figure something out. I also said they should read an article I wrote in September last year explaining how I felt about advertising and advertisers.
I didn’t hear back.
Around the same time, I had a similar enquiry from someone acting for a company which on the face of it, looks as though it might be a good p2pnet fit and after exchanging a couple of emails, the last one also with the URL to the story mentioned above, we’re going to see what we can see.
Stay tuned on that and meanwhile, for the information of anyone else who’s thinking p2pnet might be a good way to tell people about themselves and/or their services and/or their products (and for anyone who’s simply curious) , below is the post I referred to »»»
Online advertising and the New Consumer
Google has just officially announced it`s bent on becoming a full-fledged member of the browser fraternity, claiming, we believe in access to information for everyone.
It`s all about capturing even more surfers than it does already so they`ll be exposed to even more Google ads and advertisers than they are already.
There is, however, a problem.
Most of the people who comprise the so-called lowest common denominator, the bottom-line target, are these days often smarter than the advertisers and their various agencies. Each new generation is more intelligent than the previous one. It`s nothing original and somehow, the Net seems to have magnified that. But advertisers don`t seem to have realized there`s this whole, new breed of savvy online consumers who`ll respond only to equally new and savvy ways of presenting products and services.
So, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, et al, isn`t it time you started treating the people you`re trying to sell to as intelligent human beings instead of gormless marks?
Slow-building privacy storm
It sounded like a winning proposition – free money – for Internet access providers, says an Associated Press»»» story, going on
By tracking their subscribers` personal Web surfing habits, they could help deliver ads targeted to the consumers` interests, and claim a share of the burgeoning online advertising market dominated by Internet search companies. But those efforts to sniff out consumers` interests are running into the ditch. A slow-building privacy storm moved in on NebuAd Inc, the Silicon Valley startup that can facilitate the Web tracking. And its potential partners, the Internet service providers, failed to make the case that they should be in the ad business at all, rather than simply being the pipes that pass Internet traffic back and forth.
One by one, cable and telephone companies that had conducted trials using NebuAd`s ad-serving system have indefinitely suspended expansion plans. In interviews, executives at the Internet access providers blamed an unfavorable climate as Congress considers tightening federal oversight.
But NebuAd isn`t alone. Nor is the `storm` localized.
British DPI company Phorm, said to have tried its arm in the US, is also struggling to survive the privacy hurricane.
The newspaper industry`s downward spiral is accelerating as the weak U.S. economy depresses already-tumbling advertising revenue and forces more rounds of job cuts and other trims, says another AP story. The developments of recent weeks come in a season when newspapers normally can anticipate boosts from upcoming holiday promotions and ads for new car models.
The decline`s severity makes it even more difficult for newspapers to hang on while they figure out how to generate enough revenue from growing Internet audiences to make up for lost print ad sales.
Continuing to consume
We `consumers` are what it`s all about. But to read the stories cited above, and others, you`d think we don`t even exist, let alone comprise an integral part of the equation.
Advertisers believe it`s carved in stone we`ll continue to buy their `product, which increasingly looks the same, sounds the same, smells the same and tastes the same, no matter how they treat us.
But we`re not buying it, in any sense.
The print and electronic media as they used to exist, and as they still exist in the eyes of most people who are in charge of them, aren`t merely in the doldrums: they`re dying. And it has nothing to do with the weak U.S. economy.
The downward spirals and tumbling advertising revenues are due to the fact consumers are customers again, and discerning ones at that. The cheap tricks routinely used by the advertising, marketing and promotion industry just don`t work anymore.
The Net is to blame. It`s having a major impact on traditional advertising and news delivery systems because as more and more men, women and children open online accounts, they`re increasingly becoming their own media providers on an individual and group basis. So who needs the heavily biased, often inaccurate, advertiser-controlled corporate press and their allied `services, as they are at the moment?
We homeschool our 12-year-old daughter, Emma. The Net comprises a major part of her education and she researches topics of interest. But just as importantly, she shares what she finds with her friends, who similarly share what they find with her. At length and in detail.
That`s viral advertising and if it`s true for homeschooled kids, it`s just as true for children in traditional teaching environments.
And who do the kids tell?
Their mums and dads.
People tell each other what`s hot and what`s not
Advertising is no more than another form of communication. But in the 21st century, services and/or products are so similar, and there are so many of them, that finding a way to entice people to choose one over another has become an industry in and of self.
That`d be okay if the sales industry took `consumers,` the most important element of all, into account.
But they don`t. Instead, the people who are expected to buy whatever`s on offer are viewed as mindless cash-cows who only deserve to be treated with extreme contempt.
Ask the movie and music moguls who are actually trying to sue `consumers` into buying their product, and only their product, and who are now suffering an enormous backlash of resentment as a direct result.
To make things even worse, they`ve succeeded in creating brand-new client bases made up of people who`ll go to any lengths to avoid buying branded corporate `product`.
People of all ages and from all parts of the world use the Net and other P2P technologies such as IM, chat, blogs and even cellphones to communicate with each other, leaving the traditional corporate mainstream news and information retailers languishing in the dust.
In other words, P2P (people to people) systems changed the way news and information are communicated.
R – E – S – P – E – C – T
IMHO, to survive, manufacturers and service providers and the people who represent them must learn new ways of doing things: they have to treat customers of all ages as intelligent, responsible people who can become up-front components in the development, sales and marketing processes.
They can no longer ignore them, taking it for granted they`ll do what they`re told and behave in the way they`ve always behaved.
In the 21st digital century, advertisers have to talk to people, and talk to them honestly.
Pablo Soto, who`s currently under attack from Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony, runs Blubster.com and he`s always been a lot more than just a p2pnet advertiser.
The same can be said for Chris from AntiSpyware.com.
And p2pnet has two new advertisers who`ve also taken things a lot further.
Says Rocky Gaudrault who runs TekSavvy, an ISP client based in Ontario:
When approached to advertize with p2pnet, we weren`t sure of what to expect as a return on our investment, mostly due to the many online news sites. But after spending some time reading through and participating in the multiple forums within p2pnet we jumped in a gave it a try.
And we`re glad we did.
The key is participating in the forums, by which Gaudrault means the comment sections under each p2pnet story.
They allow advertisers to talk one-on-one with the people they`re trying to reach.
Ask MP3Rocket.com`s Paschal. The application, say its developers, can block Media Defender-type spoofed Gnutella files.
Paschal engaged in a lively dialogue with p2pnet readers which resulted in the company changing its approach.
Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, et al, are synonymous with bamboozle. They`re spending literally millions of dollars trying to figure out how to get hold of users` personal information so they can decide how to (try to) influence them â- whether they like it or not.
Maybe if they were upfront and honest, we, the people, might simply give the data to them â some of it, anyway.
Aretha Frankly said it best.
All we want is R – E – S – P – E – C – T.
A little of that, and the sky`s the limit.
Stay tuned.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
April, 2009
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April 30th, 2009 at 11:01 am
What Heresy !!!!!!
April 30th, 2009 at 11:39 am
This is the ONLY way to reach us ‘cash-cows’ anymore. Like the author of LittleShoot posting here, I would have completely ignored this new gadget until I saw the author of the gadget engaging potential clients here on p2pnet. The landscape has changed, we all review items online now. Is it a value? Does it come with support? What can I expect? Simple, easy questions, that need addressing. The MAFIAA doesn’t get it… if I can test drive a 35,000usd automobile before deciding on purchasing it, what’s wrong with ‘test driving’ music before deciding , ‘whoa, this shit fucking suxors!’, and moving on to Indie sites where they DO let you ‘test drive’ music.
I saw a great article the other day that defined piracy as an industry problem, not a consumer problem. The MAFIAA continue to be idiots, and have left a massive vacuum that file sharing filled over a century ago. File sharing is still the #1 place to get those TV shows the asshats refuse to release in ‘y’ country.
Continue the boycott, let the MAFIAA and the likes die a painful death, while we, the consumer, regain our control on how/what/when/where we consume ‘product’.
stw
April 30th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
“…consumers are customers again….” and “…has nothing to do with the ‘weak U.S. economy’.”
AHA!! YES YES YES YES YES!!!
I am also a member of several paid survey sites, which continue to have me offer opinion on something that I haven’t had the opportunity to use or try. What amazes me to no end is the fact that these surveys are almost always asking the wrong questioons with a limited set of answers and they all seem to use the same tactics of trying to figure out how the proposed idea/packaging/advertisement makes me FEEL without having the sense to offer me a text box to tell them I FEEL like telling them to F***off for using such transparent manipulation techniques instead of asking me if I would even want such a thing in the first place! Many of them still don’t even have an option to select a mixed ethnic background when they try to box me into their demographic modeling scheme in the first 3 questions! I usually can take that as an indicator of what types of questions will follow and I am generally not disappointed. Would you believe they ask me things like: “If store X were a person, how would you describe the kind of person they would be” and then give me choices like “hip,” “trendy,” or “go-getter”? Or something equally as asinine such as “which emotion best describes how you felt after watching the commercial: a) confident b) sad c) guilty d) angry?”
What I find even more fascinating about the experience is that the knuckleheads behind this the creation of this tool for gathering useless and incorrect information don’t have the sense to offer at least a “none of the above” choice or a simple text box to let them know what I might really think, while the surveys that actually ask more sensible questions to begin with ALWAYS give a space at the end for comments on the experience. Usually for those I have nothing to add, but the ones I really want to give a piece of mind to don’t give me the chance. What a waste of time and money for everyone! It’s really absurd, and this kind of thinking is exactly why the RIAA thinks it has some right to extort money from “consumers” instead of offering something of value to a “customer.”
I think this is why I am always battling with customer service reps if I have to call them for help or (God forbid!) correct an error that they made. What happened to the old adage of “the customer is always right”? I had one issue that I had already resolved with a previous rep but the solution hadn’t been implemented properly, and when I called to follow up I actually spent 4 hours on the phone wrestling with a supervisor who simply kept trying to rehash the original problem to justify the lack of action. I managed to keep my patience only because I found it interesting that I couldn’t get him to understand that the issue was no longer in debate, but that the MATH was wrong and when I finally managed to convince him to add it up himself: “…and 20 plus 10 is thir- oh…” He actually sounded disappointed that I was correct.
When did we stop being real people to each other and become instead this categorically stupid mass to serve the corporations? I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the paradigm shift and the economic decline went hand in hand. Maybe even partner that with the emergence of the internet contributing to our awareness of being treated this way and we have a society on the brink of enlightenment, but one which is resisting the change. I propose these are all indicators of a possible evolution to the next level – resistance to which may bring about the exact opposite effect.
April 30th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
This article should be required reading in Online Advertising 101.
April 30th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
“…the knuckleheads behind this the creation of this tool for gathering useless and incorrect information donât have the sense to offer at least a ânone of the aboveâ choice or a simple text box to let them know what I might really think…”
I would think most of these would be designed that way because their goal is to have “standarized and tabled data” to sort, allowing automated scripts to take care of the results, both for the end of the data gathering process and in the “targetting” process. (Computers can’t sort and classify data based on endless “custom” headers.)
But, make no mistake, this wouldn’t mean I approve of such processes.
If anything, the fact that many are doing this just reinforces the statement that we are viewed simply as “statistical data” and not as human beings.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Well, Jon, thanks for not selling us off. Literally.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
@DA
Understood – but it is REALLY a waste of everyones time and money to get unusable data that only serves to “support” whatever preconceived notion they already have. The “none of the above” needn’t be followed by an input field, but seems like it should really exist just to indicate if they are even on the right track.
Then again, I forget that I am often the exception to the rule, as I only recently came to understand how spoiled I was to be raised in an environment that nurtured actual thought. The problem is that this type of advertising DOES actually work on a majority of the folk it is aimed at, which explains how President Goofus actually got a SECOND term… I suppose I am doing surveys more for my own benefit on the off chance I might win a sweepstakes – it’s probably a more likely result than my opinion actually making a difference, at least in THAT venue. It can get a bit frustrating to think that here we are actually talking about a few things that matter with a few other folks, but the people that we really need to engage in the discussion are not likely a part of this audience. The problem is that water seeks its own level…
May 7th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
You’d be amazed Jon…. Try
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.p2pnet.net%2Fstory%2F21116#demographics
Aklthough of course – it doesnt tell you where they are – but I know the answer to that one – right by their PC’s, Phones and other internet enabled devices.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
@ Tom:
“Youâd be amazed Jon⦔
Not really —
http://www.quantcast.com/p2pnet.net
Or even http://www.websiteoutlook.com/www.p2pnet.net (according to this, p2pnet is worth a measly $33,594.6 (how’d they get the six cents? heh)
But I prefer Awstats, which gets its data from logs – nothing on users.
Cheers!
May 10th, 2009 at 10:06 am
You have been upgraded Jon. You are now worth $35,193.3 USD