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Comment by avalys | Hacker News Reader

I get great ads on Instagram. Generally, they’re niche products related to my interests from small companies I’ve never heard of before.

Yes, there’s a few misses, but it’s way better than the absolute scum-sucking garbage I see elsewhere on the internet from other ad networks. “Doctor shares one weird trick for emptying your bowels every morning”, “Alan Greenspan tells you what to buy instead of Litecoin”, and similar.

However, I don’t really use Instagram to connect with people I know. I follow a bunch of accounts related to my hobbies and interests. That probably primes the ad-targeting pump a lot better than if I was just following my friends and family on there.

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I agree.

Honestly, as a consumer, Instagram is the best advertising experience I've ever had. It's scarily good. I find sales from e.g. Cole Hann, Brooks Brothers, Piloti, etc all the time. It's quite possibly the only platform where I would say I bought an item specifically because I saw it an ad.

Im the same. In 30 years of using the internet ive only saw an ad,clicked through and bought twice. Both times were clothing from Instagram.

Cole haan are my favorite brands of shoes as well! Check allbirds as well they’re super comfy :)

The other side of the coin: people who get easily fished by scams get more and more well targeted scams.

I had to help deal with a scam on a very low profile product (less than 20$ worth) that will just never arrive, the company just vanished away and she was left to deal with her bank to convince for a chargeback. I thought it was just back luck, but I got to look at her timeline later on, and half of the ads could have been same level scams.

I have a similar experience on Instagram in that the ads often seem well-tailored to my interests there, which are exclusively outdoor sports and photography.

But I have to say that I am disciplined about training the algorithm. I never click on content outside those interests (even if it looks interesting to me). And I occasionally go to the “discover” tab and click only the images that align with those interests.

And there are so many ads now. It feels like 25-33% of my feed, which is absurd. Every set of stories has an ad between them.

> I never click on content outside those interests (even if it looks interesting to me)

That’s a little sad isn’t it? We’re too scared to click on content that looks interesting in case it angers the algorithm :-)

It is, kind of, but less so if you view instagram as a "tool".

I personally only use IG to follow my fellow figure skaters, but I do use YouTube like GP does: Curating, heavily, and clicking only with purpose.

I'm rewarded with superb recommendations. A seemingly endless treasure trove of high quality content. Educational content, as that's the main stuff I'm interested in.

I see youtube's algorithm as a tool: I learned how to use it to my own benefit. On paper it should "do its own thing", but AI isn't there yet and I don't know that I want it to be. What I know is that doing things this way has allowed youtube to have a profoundly positive impact on my life. In exchange, I bought youtube premium. So, win win.

Yeah I was thinking of this the other day with my YouTube usage. Me (and most I know in my generation) open any YT video with content we don't want marketed towards us in a private tab. Had someone comment on it when they were looking over my should the other day - and I realized that I just do it instinctively these days. Not even sure when I started or if it was a conscious decision... my generation just grew up with these algos and learned how to play them i guess

> And there are so many ads now. It feels like 25-33% of my feed, which is absurd. Every set of stories has an ad between them.

I believe it's published somewhere that both Facebook and Instagram insert an ad for every 3 news feed items or so.

Instagram ads are the only ads I like and I am insanely anti-ad. They're currently showing me ads for furniture and house stuff. What I find frustrating is there is no way to view my recently seen ads. They'll cut off early in stories and I'll not be able to get them back.

I agree Instagram ads are usually good and certainly the only ones I've ever seen properly targeted to me - I've even used it 2-3 times for high value things - but I'm still annoyed that it keeps trying to sell me startup Viagra for millenials. ("hims" and "Roman")

Thinking about it I dont see many ads on the internet but I do on Instagram and have clicked on them multiple times and been happy to find some stores which I wouldn't otherwise.

I don't know about yours, but the ones i see are also niche products from uknown companies and the reason for that is because those are drop shipping people rebranding china stuff and selling it for 2x or even 3x the price. When I see something interesting, I'll always go to Aliexpress and 100% of the times the product is there (not with the same name of course).

> I get great ads on Instagram¹.

¹ S̶o̶c̶i̶a̶l̶ Ads network.

Same. I bought a bunch of stuff from instagram ads (unless they’re easy scams/dropshipping products which you can easily tell). These days I’m looking at modular floor couch (like roche bobois majhong, I recommend checking that if you don’t know about these couches because they look amazing) and I’m now getting a bunch of more affordable alternatives as ads.

I like the fabrics on those mahjongs, and maybe that’s what it’s all about, but is there anything that sets them apart from all the floor cushions you can buy on Etsy and elsewhere? Can also search “majlis”.

Not sure. Probably quality? The thing with majlis is that they’re always full of dust and a nightmare for allergic people, so perhaps the roche bobois are cleaner also?

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