"However I've probably bought more stuff as a direct result of ad exposure on Instagram (3 things in three years) than in the entirety of the 25 years I've been on the internet."

Could you specifically describe the ads and the products involved ? I am very curious and would love to have a sense of what they succeeded with (for you).

I have been of the mind that targeted ads are terrible and that ad firms and ad-tech firms and (that entire ecosystem) are fleecing the ad buyers who will eventually wake up to that fact...

It's 2019 and if I search for "volkswagen emissions scandal" I will get banner ads for new volkswagen cars. For a week.

Or, I would, if ublock origin was disabled ...

Well most recently it was for a service for knife sharpening called knifeaid. You mail in your knives and they sharpen them for a flat fee, comparable to what I pay now to drive to a sharpener.

I can only assume cause I've posted stuff about me cooking and have searched knife sharpening in the past. Not that hard to target really.

Going off on a bit of a tangent, but some time ago I bought a sharpening stone for $30. It takes about 10 minutes start to finish from dull blade to sharp blade, which is a lot more convenient than going to the knife sharpener or mailing your knives. I also use it to sharpen my hair clipper blades once a year.

I'm actually very handy with a whetstone, however I'd contest the 10 minutes part, and as much I use mine its a non trivial amount of work. Professional sharpening is just way better in my situation

Completely agreed on this. I've also used a sharpening stone to sharpen scissors. It's quick, easy, and really satisfying seeing a dull blade go to razor sharp with a few minutes of work.

Two things I've brought recently after they showed up freaking forever on my various feeds:

https://cuffup-shop.com/

https://connectio.io/

Ironically, the latter is a product that helps with decent retargeting, and one reason I purchased it, because it seemed to have worked on me.

That's a strangely circular argument.

Not really. I was kind of interested in it the first time I saw it and clicked on it, had a play with the site. It then apparently recognized me after that and -- knowing now what I know about the product -- I suspect the advertiser started spending a lot more money on getting my attention.

I suspect the cuff one had a similar setup. I saw it once, abandoned a cart with it, and then maybe 30% of all ads I saw afterwards were the product.

I have never bought anything from an ad. One time I saw an ad for something that seemed very relevant but I had already clicked on the next link and when I navigated back the site showed something different :-(

Those are not the only ads that exist, nor do you need to click on them to be influenced. Everyone who thinks this way is usually incredibly susceptible to advertising, you just don't see it.

Agreed. Just seeing or hearing a brand name repeatedly makes it more trustworthy.

That happens a lot with me. I'll be reading a multi-page article at a site, get to the bottom of the page, click the button or link to go to the next page, and only then, since I'm not busy reading the page content anymore, notice the ad.

Just as I'm realizing that it is something I'm quite interested in and want to click it for more information, the next page loads and I've lost the ad.

It's quite annoying.

Same for me. It may be because Instagram lends itself to "life style" follows?

In my case, I'm interested in climbing, and because brands actually post interesting content, I'll follow them. Do this over a few categories of interests and it may result in Instagram having a better understanding of my interests/things I'll care about.

Absolutely! I've said the same thing several times over the past month. I actually enjoy Instagram ads and have bought multiple items because of an ad on Instagram. Even if I don't buy the product, I very often visit the page to view it.

The ads themselves are usually very high quality images or video, and despite taking up the entire screen like any other post, they don't feel intrusive.

Whatever they're doing is the right way to do it.

> Honestly, Instagram is pretty spot on with their ads for me.

Instagram is all ads.

It's a platform where they get users to advertise to each other.