ListensToYou is about a lot of things: user choice, control over online content, connecting people with products and services that they actually want or need and online privacy - to name a few.  But, sometimes, actual examples of online advertisements make it easy to point out the need for a service - ListensToYou - to improve online advertising.  We are going to use this blog post to show some of the best (worst) ads; some of the examples that just scream out for something to be done to make ads more relevant, less invasive and, simply, better. Email screen shots of any ads you think should be displayed here to info@listenstoyou.com.  I’m guessing that there are quite a few, so send them our way.

We got some initial (and very good) feedback on the site’s user forum.  Keep voicing your opinion and interest in ListensToYou.  If you love it, hate it or somewhere in between, we would like to hear from you.  The important thing for us, right now, is that people like the vision - to give internet users some control over and meaningful feedback on - the ad content they see on the websites they visit.  The best way to accomplish that can be shaped by you; and it should be.  After all, we are all about empowering user choice. 

Rather than split user feedback into 2 places - blog comments and the user forum - we have consolidated it all into the blog right here in the User Feedback category.  If you want to start a topic, post in the comments under our New discussion topics blog post and we’ll promote great discussions to posts of their own.  Also, we transferred some of the best user forum topics and responses over to the User Feedback category of blogs, so check them out and continue the discussion.

If you have topics you’d like to discuss, post them as comments on this blog post and we’ll promote some of the discussions to their own posts to continue the discussion.  We’re open to all feedback!

From the ListensToYou user forum

Make updating preferences easier in real time. Go to someone like Conduit in short term- have them create a toolbar for you - that way users have one-click access to your resources. Also paves the way for better ad network integration (cookie based ad targeting growing obsolete - pave way for next generation browser-ad network integration via xml etc).

Posted by : Mark81295  

Posted date : 06-19-2008 10:35:22 am

Replies

Mark - you are right on point with your suggestion. It makes total sense to have a browser plug-in or toolbar to allow people to update preferences as they occur (see an ad you like, add that type/brand/product to your listenstoyou profile). We had considered this as a long-term play, but had not considered Conduit to do this in the short-term. Your feedback really helps - thanks! If you have more suggestions, you can always post on the forum or email to info@listenstoyou.com. I get all of those messages. David

Posted by:LTY David  Posted date:06-19-2008 12:33:35 pm 

if you can figure out how to do it, it would be great to single out ads that I don’t want to see again (on the page I see them) - and have that preferenced apply to all partner sites. I only want to see relevant ads, from relevent companies. Its ok to show me ads from companies I haven’t ranked but let me tell you if I’m interested or not when I see the ad. 

Posted by:tmc2k  Posted date:06-20-2008 12:46:49 am 

tmc - another great piece of feedback. I should point out to the ListensToYou community that this type of interaction is VERY helpful to us. I would really like to have not only registered ListensToYou users be able to give feedback on particular ads - as you mentioned - but also to let anyone give the feedback and have it initiate registration for those that are not current users. We’d like to continue discussing these ideas and the technical execution of them, so please keep up the forum posts or send me an email: info@listenstoyou.com

Posted by:LTY David  Posted date:06-20-2008 08:42:33 am 

From the ListensToYou user forum

I’m sure you went around a lot on this already but your name is not very catchy and its too long. Gotta find a better name for the service. 

Posted by : tmc2k  

Posted date : 06-20-2008 00:59:45 am

Replies

Thanks, tmc2k! You know, we went back and forth with this. We did get some feedback saying the name was hard to understand, but we also got a lot of feedback that the name, and the slogan it inspired, was great. Maybe we could have users submit names they like? Perhaps we can hold a naming contest. At the very least, that could help get the word out, which we are trying very hard to do.

Posted by:LTY David  Posted date:06-20-2008 08:34:25 am 

From the ListensToYou user forum

Which are the websites that have the worst ads!? Reply to this post or click the Contact Us link to suggest some partner websites.

Posted by : LTY David  

Posted date : 06-18-2008 07:03:30 am

Replies

Good question. I don’t mind high quality ads even if they are not relevant. Of course quality is subjective. Yahoo! has some very poor ads when using their email service. Blinky, non relevant ads. I don’t want to see any more ads for classmates etc. Hopefully your service can set a quality bar so that I’m not presented with fake dialogs boxes or other messages that are designed to trick users into clicking on the ad. Filter out the noise level of advertising and give me a better internet experience. Perhaps options for users to reject types of ads (show them samples), they must be universally annoying. 

Posted by:tmc2k  Posted date:06-20-2008 12:57:59 am 

Now, this is another level of user control, for sure! This, to me, is the ultimate - demanding high quality content and execution in banner and other online ads. With the exception of fashion magazines, it seems that no medium does this very well. Your idea for execution, simple examples, is something I could see working. Additionally, you spark a good idea that our brand could stand for advertising that isn’t annoying or a trick, but only ads that the user would want. Of course, we would have to bring a pretty strong user-base to the table if we are going to start making those demands of publishers and advertisers. But, that is exactly what we are trying to do and we appreciate the help you are giving us with your suggestions and feedback!

Posted by:LTY David  Posted date:06-20-2008 08:51:39 am