Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Pet Peeve of the Week

"Thanks for your feedback. Over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to you."

This is the message facebook gives after you rate the side-bar ads. Meadow muffins! I'm pretty sure they say this just to give us a false sense of hope. I've been rating those ads for as long as they've given me the option and I still get inundated with the same ads over and over again. To be clear, I don't have a problem with having ads on facebook. I'd rather see them get revenue from the companies placing the ads than from the users. I take issue with the fact that I consistently rate the ads which I feel are irrelevant to me, but they keep on coming.

Let me illustrate with a few examples...

I get real estate ads for wherever I log in to facebook as I travel for business, long after I've returned home. Sure, I'd love to have a house in Victoria, but it's not going to happen. I'm also not going to be looking at Toronto real estate any time soon. I'm getting tired of the political campaign messages too. I can't vote in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Toronto, Montreal, Victoria, Courtenay, etc., so please make them stop!

I don't need a criminal pardon in order to travel to the US. Unless I'm really oblivious, I don't foresee requiring the services of a divorce lawyer either. I don't drink, so I won't be contesting any DUI's and I'm tired of the countless alcohol ads. I don't want a chance to win passes to the Coors Light mystery mansion, or prizes from Smirnoff, or Molson, or...

I don't need to book a flight from Red Deer to Calgary or Edmonton. If I could get flights from Lethbridge, that would be helpful...

I deleted every application from my facebook profile which didn't involve communicating with those on my friends list, so all the countless ads for shooter games, Cafe Town, Farmville, Frontierville, YoVille, MafiaWars... go beyond annoying.

I had one for "cloud hosting from £5/month". Wow, did we really miss our target market here. Canada hasn't used pounds for a long time now, but thanks for the offer.

Why can't I get ads for things I might actually use? Would it kill someone to have a few Lego ads on the side? Maybe some buffet coupons I can download and print off at home?

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