I don't like it - it's an improvement on the status quo, sure, but merely having an eye poked out instead of being decapitated is small comfort indeed.
Honestly, I hope this sort of subversive advertising never takes hold. If it does, Web users will lose faith in the relevance of inline links and will stop using them. And right now that's pretty much the only place you can find outbound links that aren't ads!
No need to be worried, adblock seems to catch those just fine. I certainly have never seen one of those. In fact, I can't quite remember when I have last seen any kind of ad.
The only ad-related memory I have would be that I (very rarely) run into a scammy site that tries to launch some sort of pop-over <div>. Adblock doesn't seem to block that javascript but it blocks the content. The result is usually a blank overlay; a very nice (and often red!) indicator that the content wasn't worth my time anyways - that's what I call good customer service.
Adblock - highly recommended.
I honestly see this type of reaction as more of an opportunity than a problem. This really shows how horrible an impressions in-text ads have made on us, and I think that reaction is totally appropriate.
I'm trying to go into this endeavor with an open mind and create something that can respect user content and yet give people the option to monetize. We're okay with Google scanning our personal emails to serve relevant ads on Gmail... I think with enough experimentation there is a solution here that will work out and convert some extremists.
Chris
Have you considered an icon like what Wikipedia uses to mark external links? It would go a long way to establish user trust if ad links were clearly labeled as such (without having to find out after mousing over) - different color, iconography... something.
"We're okay with Google scanning our personal emails to serve relevant ads on Gmail"
Because Google doesn't mix ads in with our email text. The ads stay in a limited area of the screen where they are clearly marked as ads, and never stray. There's no chance that I'll get sold flowers or exercise equipment when I read my email.
People are against this in the same way they are against product placement in movies - it reeks of dishonesty, and compromises the authenticity and integrity of the content in which it was inserted. To be honest, I do not believe you have done anything (that we can see from this demo) to significantly improve on this. You've made a somewhat less scummy implementation, but you have not fixed the broken model underneath.
Sometimes I wonder what's so insufficient about Google's format: well-targeted ads, relevant to the contents of the page, served in a fenced-off ad area. Why is it that we must invade the main body of articles?
The Atma guys hacked up a way to integrate their in-text links with SeatGeek. Thanks to Atma, select words in this blog will now link to SeatGeek event pages. Let’s say, for example, I’m talking about the Cleveland Browns. Whenever you roll over the Brown’s name, you’ll see a small popup that links to the SeatGeek page for the Brown’s upcoming game.
Translation: all those other in-text links are spammy, but the ones that point to our service are tremendously useful!
Come on. How is this different from any other in-text advertising scheme?
So from a blogger’s perspective, adding a few lines Atma JavaScript gives their site a new feature and an additional revenue stream.
I don't think in-text advertising is leaving us anytime soon. So, I think the best thing you can do is to make the difference between normal links and ad links very noticeable. The little pop-up should not be very large, slow to load, or look like it might be some type of legitimate information source. It should totally say in big letters at the top: "Advertising by SeatGeek." Black background, white bold text.
I've thought about this a couple times, trying to see if I could come up with something that the established companies haven't. I really can't wait for some clever person to figure out the perfect way to put in-text ads in content.
Maybe there should be no ad links at all, but a little icon to the right of the phrase, that upon mouseover will highlight the phrase and display the pop-up.
Ultimately though this method of advertising gives site owners the opportunity to deceive their visitors into clicking ad links. Less so than Adsense, I would think.
--- Edits for proof reading
