

$100B "Internet Idiot" Industry Set To Explode - jackjack1000
http://www.tekpopuli.com/2008/09/24/100b-internet-idiot-industry-set-to-explode/

======
jbenz
"...the idiocy of millions who don’t understand that those blue-underlined
words on the right of search results are NOT, in fact, search results at all."

Wrong.

If you're researching a paper, then the sponsored search results might not be
your best bet. But if you're searching for a product you need, I would argue
that the sponsored search results might be even more accurate.

Sponsored search results cost people money. Those people are not throwing
their money away. There is a reason why they are paying to appear on that
particular keyword. They have something you need. They are willing solve to
your need for a price.

You're not an idiot if you need a new pair of shoes, click on a sponsored
result for Zappos, and find what you want.

~~~
zhyder
You're right, sponsored results aren't _just_ for idiots. But the article
makes a valid point too. A substantial fraction (maybe majority) of web-users
are probably not tech-savvy enough to know the difference between free and
paid links.

~~~
goldsmith
Agreed- remember the release of AOL search data two years ago? That may not be
a representative sample, but a large number of those users seemed to have no
idea what a search engine's basic function even was.

~~~
rapind
Bah, I disagree. Not giving the average user enough credit. Bit pretentious
imho. Now... whether he average user cares? If it looks representative of your
search, who cares if it's paid or not?

~~~
trezor
Goldsmith has a point. The following excerpts are from the AOL search logs.
One user, sequence of search as listed. Judge for yourself:

geeks do you know where mal&spware-viruses are hard drive or memory

geeks do you know where mal&spware-viruses are hard drive or memory

anybody know where malware and spyware live in my laptop

geeks do you know where mal&spware-viruses are hard drive or memory

mal&spware-viruses are they in hard drive or memory

mal&spware-viruses are they in harddrive or memory

support error doctor

support error doctor

support error doctor

chase user account information

larger than 20gb inexpensive cpu fpr dell c600 laptop

free shiping sites for 40 to 80 gb dell laptop cpu harddrives

sites with free shiping that have;40gb tiwan cpu hard drive for c600 dell
laptop

how to jump cpu to erase everything

do you use jumper on cpu to erase everything

do you use jumper on cpu to erase everything

cpu how to erase everything and start empty

cpu how to erase everything and start empty

cpu how to erase everything and start empty ibm travelstar cpu

how to erase everything and start empty where to get internal cpu replscement
disk

who stocks internal parts for travelstar cpu 's

who stocks internal parts for travelstar cpus

actual individual internal parts for travelstar cpu

free ship latitude 600 remanufactured travelstar cpu

dellc600 remanufactured travelstar cpu

dell c600 remanufactured travelstar cpu

remanufactured hard drives with trade in core

remanufactured hard drives

aftermarket hard drives for dell laptops

show picture of hard drive for dell c600 wireless laptop

what name has the omand intererter

what name has the comand intererter

what name has the command interpreter

what name has the command interpreter

virus infection remove with send me a cleaner please i will be forced to
camcil

aol's-free virus infection remove with send me a cleaner please i will be
forced to camcil

mal spy viruses where are they harddrive or memory

stored mail spy viruses where are they hiding

stored mal spy viruses wher are they hiding

if i replade harddrive wil i loose all stored mal spy viruses

new hard drive or memory to rid all virus bugs patches

new hard drive or memory to rid all virus bugs patches

new harddrive or memory to rid all virus bugs patches

support erorrordoctor.com

support erorrordoctor.com

support erorrordoctor.com

support erorrordoctor.com

support erorrordoctor.com

anybody know where malware and spyware live in my laptop

suppor errordoctor

support error doctor

aol don't you have a -free virus infection remove disk for colateral damage
during sign-up

aol don't you have a -free virus infection remove disk for colateral damage
during sign-up

aol's-free virus infection remove with send me a cleaner please i will be
forced to camcil

aol dosn't have a site for damage to computers during sign up

computer animated cartoon sex pictures

------
j2d2
_This self delusion comes from the fact that acknowledging that the Internet
is largely made up of simpletons who do not know what a web application is,
will never really understand Twitter, and who continue to use Hotmail happily,
and who use Yahoo as their "homepage", puts them at risk of catatonic
stupifaction and massive permanent brain damage._

This is amazingly condescending... It completely misses the point of figuring
out what people want and assumes everyone is doing nothing better with their
time.

For example: I understand twitter just fine and couldn't care much less about
it.

~~~
electromagnetic
Agreed. I understand Twitter, it's inherently useless to me and I'll likely
never use it.

The whole argument in the piece is invalid. People are using Twitter and
Facebook to reduce the amount of time they spend with people whilst trying to
stay in contact with people. My girlfriend uses it and I want to block the
damn thing because she'll spend an hour on that 'keeping in touch' instead of
us going out for a meal with the people we're trying to keep in touch with.

People went from keeping blogs to using twitter and now instead of making a
post or two they'll make a couple of microposts. It's completely, inherently
moronic. I contend that people using these completely unneeded services are
far dumber than the people clicking google ads.

I have little doubt there are people who've spent months worth of time on
Facebook when they could have used that time to actually be with family and
friends. Or shit, they could have worked the time they wasted and went on a
nice vacation to Paris.

------
ahpeeyem
I'm an idiot in more ways than I'm savvy.

Cyclists and motorcyclists think I'm an idiot for driving my car (I'm a
"cager") instead of riding to work and getting fit/saving the planet/saving
money/not wearing lycra or leather.

And I'm an idiot to the car salesman whose lot I walk onto, knowing very
little about cars or vehicle finance or insurance, and I walk out stitched up
with a new car loaded with aftermarket products, extended warranty and on
high-interest finance.

I'm an idiot to the people who care about fashion because I'm pasty and
overweight and I buy what mainstream shops put in front of me.

I'm an idiot to the finance industry for having stacks of debt and no
appreciating assets to speak of.

There's a million idiot industries where those in the know make money from the
idiots who want to focus their attention on Something Else. The more
scrupulous are really just adding value for a fee (say Google, Amazon), and
there are those less ethical (e.g. spammers) who take the money of those who
can't, don't want to, or are too lazy to learn the ins and outs.

As sarcastic as the article is, it's correct that there's tons of money to be
made from these people who don't know or care how the internet works, as long
as they get what they want.

------
jonmc12
Exploiting people's decision making through tricks or noise is nothing
internet specific. Grocery store marketers have their equations to induce
purchases on the shelf by using colors, gimmicks, etc - just like spam kings.
Consumer brands place their names in movies, tv shows and songs and sneak into
peoples buying habits as a virtue of repetition and numbers - much like the
numbers that bring domain squatters their traffic. And, of course, our
political leaders are elected by poisoning our attention space with
commercials full of falsehoods aimed at changing people's sentiment
illogically.

Welcome to our age of idiot capitalism. This is the era where we all get to
put up with the information noise created by formulaic entrepreneurs who are
seeking to exploit the collective idiot among us.

------
pchristensen
Link should be [http://www.tekpopuli.com/2008/09/24/100b-internet-idiot-
indu...](http://www.tekpopuli.com/2008/09/24/100b-internet-idiot-industry-set-
to-explode/)

~~~
jackjack100
Thanks. Is there any way to change this once I've submitted it?

~~~
swombat
There's an edit button, but it goes away after a while.

~~~
emmett
There are a number of editors who can edit URLs after posting.

------
Angostura
The story itelf appears to have exploded.

~~~
jncraton
For some reason, the link had a trailing backslash. It works better without
it:

[http://www.tekpopuli.com/2008/09/24/100b-internet-idiot-
indu...](http://www.tekpopuli.com/2008/09/24/100b-internet-idiot-industry-set-
to-explode/)

~~~
steveplace
Idiots.

------
SingAlong
I second ahpeeyam's point. "...as long as they are getting what they want..."

In my surrounding I meet a lot of people everyday who dont even know youtube.
Why consider youtube, the address bar... They are clueless as to what to type
in. All they know is www.google.com for info. When they search they are happy
to find the info they need whether its the link on the right(ads) or left.

Most common search keywords have quality advertisers. Now that most ads are of
quality the user wouldnt mind clicking on them. We shouldnt be forgetting the
fact that these ad matches are displayed according to keywords. When you
search for "xyz tv", you might get a CNET review for it in your search results
and an ad reading "buy xyz tv at $250". Now the action is dependent on the
user. He might either read the review or buy it from the ad link or might even
buy it from a search result page that read "at 50% discount" which might be an
even better price.

------
misuba
The real question is, what's the business model for teaching people Internet
literacy? And can that even be done?

------
Ardit20
You guys seem to have been missing his point which is rather simple. Most
people, unlike us, do not know how the internet works, are rather new to the
internet, maybe have not even heard of digg and are stupid, as far as the
internet is concerned.

No wonder that market is growing, new people are coming and porbably always
will. That I suppose is what the "make a million by tomorrow" market relies
on, also spam as he mentioned etc.

His point kind of seems to be, make money off the ignorant as there are many
of them.

