“I think you spend 50 percent of your mental energy trying to defeat ad systems.” ThinkingTryingEnergyPercentDefeatAds Author:Tim Wu
“We have just decided we have to have everything for free. And I think we're starting to pay for it in terms of our mental states.” ThinkingStatesTermPayDecidedStarting Author:Tim Wu
“Advertising just keeps getting heavier and heavier and heavier. It doesn't have any natural limit, and we haven't found the place for the limit. And I think it's really important, therefore, that some of the revolts that are undergoing right now, you know, whether it's ad blockers or other things, are people trying to set some lines so that we say, you know, this far but no further. And this is where it ends.” PeopleThinkingKnowsTryingImportantEndsFoundNaturalLinesHavensRight NowLimitsAdvertisingAdsRevolt Author:Tim Wu
“I wish more of the web had stayed nonprofit. But the advertising model took over and I think has delivered us to where we are, along with the development of content, which is designed to do nothing else but make you click on it or share it. And I think it's kind of a low goal for content, and I think that's taken us to our current abyss.” ThinkingKindWishGoalTakenShareDevelopmentModelsLowsCurrentsAdvertisingAbyssClicksNonprofits Author:Tim Wu
“You have to think back to the '90s. The computer was this terrible-looking thing that was trying to compete with the television. And it was this idea of email and chat rooms and this kind of stuff that first people - got people there.” PeopleThinkingTryingFirstsKindIdeasStuffRoomsTelevisionTerribleComputerEmail Author:Tim Wu
“I think Google is the most successful attention merchant - profitable attention merchant in the history of the world, most successful advertising-only based company - most profitable. They started a very idealistic, beautiful company in many ways, but they didn't have a business model.” ThinkingWorldWayBeautifulAttentionCompanySuccessfulModelsAdvertisingGoogleWorld HistoryProfitableMerchantsIdealisticBusiness Models Author:Tim Wu
“I think, year in, year out, Google is starting to get worse instead of better. I think this is happening to a lot of the web companies, is as their demand to increase the payload they deliver in ads increases, they end up degrading and corrupting their own services. And you can see it with Google Maps, you can see it with Google Directions, where somehow Uber is, you know, always one of the options. And it's becoming exactly what they said was what they never wanted, which is a pay-for service where the highest bidder gets the best results.” ThinkingKnowsYearsSaidEndsWantedResultsPayCompanyBecomingDemandHighestHappeningsIncreaseStartingMapsAdsGoogleThey SaidDegradingUberGoogle Maps Author:Tim Wu
“I do think the best thing for companies like Google and Facebook, if they are afraid of this ethical trap of advertising, is they should start letting people pay who want to pay and avoid some of the advertising.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantShouldPayCompanyAdvertisingBest ThingsEthicalGoogleTraps Author:Tim Wu
“When you think about normal advertising, it's just like, hey, here's a car and, you know, we don't know if you're looking for a car or not. So Google promised that mental state, and then were able to prove that delivering the message at the exact right moment would make someone click on something. So they pioneered the idea that advertising could be profitable on the internet, that a specific, very micromental state could be targeted. And they established the primacy of the click, which has haunted us ever since.” IfsThinkingKnowsIdeasStatesMomentsAbleCarInternetProveNormalMessagesAdvertisingHeyGoogleProfitableClicksDeliveringRight MomentPrimacy Author:Tim Wu
“Google's AdWords, they allow you to bid on words that people will type into the search engine, and they cost more or less. For example, I think mortgage refinancing can cost - now, it's probably hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. So, in other words, they are allowing you to bid on what people are going to type, and that is the AdWords program. So you own certain terms, and then your ads show up as opposed to someone else's.” PeopleThinkingShowsCertainTermExampleTypeCostProgramDollarsAllowingEnginesAdsGoogleMortgageSearch Engine Author:Tim Wu
“I don't think anyone at Google feels happy about it, but they've been in some sense, you know, enslaved to their business model, and so they have to satisfy their advertisers.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsModelsGoogleBusiness ModelsAdvertisers Author:Tim Wu
“Let's say you're someone's phone, and you notice that your owner is drinking coffee at certain times of the day, just very subtly indicating where the local coffee shop is which happens to have paid, you know, whoever makes your phone at the right moment. I think we're in a future where frankly we are possibly facing little tiny bits of manipulation in all of our waking hours, if we don't have that already.” IfsThinkingKnowsLittlesMomentsHappensCertainBitsHoursPaidDrinkingPhonesCoffeeTinyLocalsShopsOwnersManipulationWakingRight MomentCoffee ShopDrinking Coffee Author:Tim Wu
“I think, by this point, almost everything on YouTube has some ad or another.” ThinkingAdsYoutube Author:Tim Wu
“I think that's been really the key, the idea of trying to harness social capital for selling purposes. That we've let this happen so easily without clearly getting something in exchange is kind of amazing to me.” ThinkingTryingKindIdeasHappensPurposeSocialKeysSellingHarnessSocial Capital Author:Tim Wu
“Net neutrality is the principle that the service providers who control or access, who own the pipes, should not favor some content over another. It's, you know, an even playing field for stuff on the Internet, and, you know, I think it's very important to the medium that it have a rough quality among contents. Everyone has their shot.” ThinkingKnowsShouldImportantStuffQualityPrinciplesFieldsInternetShotsAccessFavorsMediumsRoughPipeNeutralityPlaying FieldsProvidersService ProvidersNet Neutrality Author:Tim Wu
“Right now it is illegal for a service provider to censor or block a site because they don't like it or to privilege someone who pays them extra money. So it's basically a level playing field. I think it was a great victory. It doesn't solve all the problems of our time, but I think we've gotten a much better place.” ThinkingProblemLevelsPayFieldsVictoryRight NowPrivilegeSolveBlockOur TimeExtrasIllegalSiteBetter PlacePlaying FieldsProvidersGreat VictoryService ProvidersLevel Playing Field Author:Tim Wu
“There's a problem which is when you're trapped in your own identity and everything is really you, then you feel less freedom to sort of explore who you want to be. So I think it's kind of something we're stuck with as long as humans are the way we are.” ThinkingWayWantFeelsHumansKindLongProblemIdentityStuckTrapped Author:Tim Wu
