I wish more federated services had built in (optional) support for enabling ads so I didn't have to constantly worry about them shutting down. Especially peer tube.
this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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TIL Threads didn't have ads
yeah that is why i chose not to donate to the instance is that my home any longer.
when they decided to keep federated with threads they decided that they didn't need my donations.
You know that blocking threads account-wide on Mastodon 2 clicks and a confirmation?
There aren't any ads on Mastodon. :)
Dear Pikachu, of course you are surprised. Learn how to expect and evade Team Rocket first.
How could those two suspiciously familiar faces with light violet and wine colored hairs possibly be Jessie and James from Team Rocket???
"Since our priority is to build consumer value first and foremost, there are no ads or monetization features currently on Threads," a Meta spokesperson said in an emailed response.
The spokesperson then continued, "But only until early 2025. Then we'll be throwing consumer value in the trash and lighting it on fire. It will be very exciting."
Step 2 of the enshittification.
Consumer value as in number of valuable consumers we can grift later
You deserve a raise. Someone get this deadwalker a corner office!
They’re not even hiding the enshittification strategy. They’re practically teaching you the principles up front.
“First we trap you, then we exploit you. Duh.”
Is it enshittification if it's shit from the start?
I guess you can always make it shittier?
I never understood the appeal of Threads anyway. Like, who leaves Xitter because it’s toxic garbage and goes to something owned by Meta, who practically invented this particular flavor of toxic garbage?
Sometimes you just grow tired of getting shot in the knee and want to be punch in the face instead
Still no reason to defederate, huh?
Still no reason to defederate, huh?
No, it's not. Ads can't federate. Threads has no control over my Mastodon feed and Lemmy can't interact with Threads at all. Following Threads accounts from Mastodon is effectively an ad blocker.
Might be a stupid question, but can't threads just post ads as "posts" via activityPub? On mastodon they would appear as toots?
Was just remembering how reddit introduced ads as basically promoted posts and recall facebook doing the same.
I sure fucking hope not.
Might be a stupid question, but can’t threads just post ads as “posts” via activityPub? On mastodon they would appear as toots?
Ads in Instagram are posts in the timeline from accounts you haven't followed. Ads don't show when you visit a profile and browse its images. So for example a post by Coca-Cola might appear in the main feed even though I never followed it but it has a little "sponsored" marker in a corner to indicate that it's there because Coke paid for it and the ad placement algorithm thinks that I might be interested in that product. As Threads is a spin-off from Instagram, ads there will surely follow the very same model. Sure, you might be able to follow Coca-Cola's Threads account from Mastodon and see the post promoting their drink that way but Threads just cannot place targeted ads on Mastodon because they don't control that feed.
Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense for targeted ads for sure. Still a bit worried about hashtags being used for ads since I follow a lot of hashtags on mastodon and usually have a quite a nice "organic" feed compared to other social media.
Still a bit worried about hashtags being used for ads
Coca-Cola could have an official profile on mastodon.social and use hashtags there as well. Whether corporations use hashtags or not in their "regular" Mastodon posts has nothing to do with Threads.
Also Mastodon has user-level features to restrict unwanted content to show up in your feed ranging from hiding boosts up to blocking the entire instance:
And since Lemmy cannot interact with Threads content at all, defederating Lemmy instances from Threads makes even less sense. One of the big Lemmy instances blocks Threads but doesn't block CSAM instances. Insane priorities their admins have.
Appreciate the thorough explanations, thanks!
The last part is fucked up, yikes...
Ads can't federate
Never underestimate facebooks capacity to enshittify. If they want to send ads as posts they will make a way. In principle the fediverse should oppose for-profit-line-go-up fuckheads, it's always the same bullshit.
Ads already are posts, as I wrote but the main feed algorithm is not in their hand, it's the local feed of mastodon.
If users aren't permitted to follow brand accounts, they're just being driven into the hands of BlueSky. Your attitude isn't helping at all.
How do you know that Threads won't inject ads as posts?
How do you know that Threads won’t inject ads as posts?
Ads in Instagram are posts from accounts you don't follow. Threads can't make you follow promotion accounts you don't want to follow.
Depending on where they want to sit in the scumbag chart, there's no technical barrier stopping them from selecting threads-hosted accounts with high metrics and injecting advertisement posts under their handles.
Remember, the rule is "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish".
Threads is doing this. Kicking them to the curb regardless of the cost is the only solution.
Threads had more users than the entire non-Threads fediverse within a day or two. Mastodon is not the competition.
That would be A) identity fraud because it would be my favorite fair trade drink endorsing Coca-Cola without the ads being clearly separated as required by many jurisdictions and B) not targeted advertising in any way.
Even if Threads posts illegally embedded extra ads: Users could just opt not to follow Threads accounts. Threads cannot just magically place ads in the feed. That's impossible.
identity fraud
I'm sure they could find some way to have the terms of service agreement include a paragraph on how a handle is the property of Meta and not a user identity.
My favorite fair trade drink endorsing Coca-Cola.
Business accounts can be exempted from injected advertising.
Without the ads being clearly separated as required by many jurisdictions.
Post the ad as an image attachment and put the advertising disclaimer within the image? There's a lot of ways they can make an ad disguised as a post, and not all of them are as easy to filter out as a quick text search.
Not targeted advertising in any way.
If @OutdoorsyOdin posts content about hiking and mountain climbing, you can make a reasonable guess that the subscribers are going to be interested in that kind of activity. It's not targeted to a specific user, but it's good enough to serve ads targeted at specific lifestyles or hobbies.
Users could just opt not to follow Threads accounts.
Exactly.
Anyways, this whole thing is to show that they could try to enshittify their fediverse integration if they really wanted to. There's no technological barrier preventing them from sending ads through ActivityPub.
I'm changing my vote in the Agora from "yes defederate" to "Hell fucking yes defederate.'
The only surprising thing is that it took this long.
I haven't used threads, I just assumed it already had ads
Same
There must be an enshitification chart where time is on one axis and DAU is on another, where it's considered the perfect time to enshitifiy due to peak username or some shit
Imagine that someone has that job. They make and present that chart in meetings. That person exists and is why we can’t have nice things.
Pretty much the exact same thought I had upon seeing the title.
Gotta build that userbase before you raoe them
Yep.
Did threads take off recently or what's the story? I thought it was unsuccessful as xitter was already the preferred platform
I see official POTUS content on Mastodon because of Threads. I'd say that's pretty taken off
I thought it was unsuccessful as xitter was already the preferred platform
It isn't anymore, ad I expect that to accelerate. The Guardian just announced today that they will no longer use it, for example (although individual journalists may still choose to do so)
Meta auto created threads accounts for all instagram users iirc so they kinda forced thwir way into the market by pre inflating their numbers.
How about ads on the hood of my car got when I'm doing oil changes? 😔😭
Or maybe 🤔, and I hope I don't offend my fellow human beings in Ukraine, but what if meta donated drones to Ukraine where they would blowup tanks and the explosion would be in the form of a dawn commercial? Or Downy! Or Mr. Clean... somebody has to Remove all the stains 😔.