## March 20 - Ads and Social Graph Background
Online advertising has completely changed what marketing means, as advertisements are now more subtle than ever. Before, companies spent hours revising magazine pages, billboards, and television advertisements, but now this has been completely altered by the online world and the ease with which ads can be produced and shared.

In the past, large teams would work together to develop creative ideas for advertisements that would reach huge audiences. But not everyone was the target customer, which prevented any personalization. The only way teams could target a select group was by choosing a TV channel or by a magazine type. There was also no tracking, so marketers couldn't measure who saw the ad, who paid attention, or who bought the product as a result of the ad. They relied entirely on surveys, sales trends, or estimates, never knowing whether their ad actually worked.

Stokes outlines how digital ads can take many forms, from banner ads, pop-ups, and interstitials to social media ads. Through these mediums companies can measure clicks, engagement, and conversations in real time. While that is highly beneficial for the company, privacy is being taken away from the average person. Abrams, in the Vox Video, explains how ads follow users through cookies and data collection. These two systems turn advertising into something that is almost too invasive, which blurs the line between content/someone online sharing a product they truly believe in and persuasion with a check on the other side of the video.

A modern business can't flourish without social media advertising today. Not only is most of the world on social media, but it is also seamlessly a part of everyday life for most people. Unlike banner ads, which most people ignore, social media ads mimic organic posts, making it much harder for consumers to distinguish them and, in turn, making them more effective. Stokes mentioned that “consumers are suffering from advertising fatigue”, and I couldn't agree more from both a consumer and marketer (Stokes, pg 315). As a consumer, whenever I see an ad online, I immediately ignore it and swipe it away. This is why people are now doing more “secret” marketing, not using hashtags or tagging the brand. Instead of seeing a check on the other side of the video, viewers think they're just watching someone recommend a good or service without incentive.

What makes social media advertising powerful is also what makes it questionable and, if not ethically wrong. If the most effective ads are identical to regular content, where do we draw the line between recommendation and manipulation? Each type of online advertisement has its own privacy issue, but social media might be facing more of an ethical issue, rather than a safety issue.

## March 24 - Manipulated

How do you know if what you're buying is what you'll actually receive? Just like we ask our friends for advice, we go to our online community to see if anyone has received it and what they got.

The idea behind that is great; you're expanding your circle of advice to the entire world. But that means that it can also be very easily manipulated. Both Fowler and Reagle show that the majority of reviews are written to influence people to buy, and that there are less and less honest opinionated reviews. Reviews can be easily created by bots, fake accounts, paid reviewers, and other businesses that just post positive comments about their company. Fowler emphasizes how big an issue this has become, showing that an entire economy has been built around creating fake reviews. He highlights how the FTC is trying to create more regulations, including those on undisclosed paid endorsements.

Manipulation also happens through more secretive methods. For example, people create “sockpuppet” accounts, a term to describe “people who create accounts so that they can masquerade as others” (Reagle). Others will write a mix of positive and negative reviews to make them appear more authentic. Since the majority of people don't read every single review, a key detail companies care about is which reviews are on top, which are the ones people see the most. If there are a few bad ones, it's okay just as long as they are on the bottom, where very few, very patient people will see them.

Reviews are starting to blur the line between authentic feedback and advertising. When people receive free products or discounts in exchange for posting feedback, their review becomes a form of hidden marketing, not just someone sharing a good/service they enjoyed. This is most evident today with influencers. PR packages are sent every day to people all around the world to share a company's new product. This is a very good marketing strategy, especially since the influencer is doing the majority of the creative work. But if an influencer doesn't post about the product or doesn't speak about it well, they will be taken off the PR list. No influencer wants that: not only will they lose receiving thousands of dollars in free products, but they will also lose credibility. When someone shows that a company respects them enough to send them a free product, it gives them a good reputation.

Recently, companies have started to ask their PR package recipients not to tag them or mention that it was an ad. That way, viewers won’t know that a check is behind the screen and that someone is just recommending a good product online. At the end of the day, it's manipulation, but it's the direction our marketing world is heading.

## March 27 - Bemused
When I go to watch a video on TikTok, my first instinct is to see what other viewers are saying in the comment section. To me, it feels like an extension of the video, adding so many more layers to it. People will make jokes, comment photo memes, and make references I didn't even think to notice. It adds more creativity to the video, making the experience so much more enjoyable. The video might already be interesting, but the comments add so much more. One will point out a minor detail that I missed, which creates a whole community to comment on it. Then, all of a sudden, all these people are making a joke about something so minor that it is so much funnier than needed. People will also come up with phrases or comment on a completely random meme that somehow fits perfectly. Unlike other apps, TikTok's comment sections don't feel like you're reading other people's long opinions; you'll see short anecdotes that create a collaborative space.

Reagle explains how online comment sections aren't just about reading new information; it's more of a social space that is shaped by timing, interaction, and behavior. Algorithms play a major role in shaping what you see. In my experience, my comment section on the same video will be completely different from my friends', just because we interact with the app differently. TikTok shows you comments first that will make you want to engage with the post more. The longer TikTok can keep you reading comments, the longer you're playing the video on a loop in the background, whether you notice it or not. It's a win-win situation for the app: you're enjoying yourself reading the comments, the viewer might be earning a commission from the views you're generating, and TikTok is keeping you on their app for longer.

What I have found most recently is that top comments will say, “I didn't expect all of this drama in the comment section,” and when I go to try to understand what everyone is saying about the video, I can't find it. It seems that people will hate on the video, then people will hate on the haters, and if you're seeing the video after all of this has happened, you can't really find the initial hate anymore.

This all just shows how personalized comment sections have become. Algorithms don't just control the videos you're seeing, but also the comments that you first see. The app sorts all comments based on your engagement, relevance to you, and keeps you in your filter bubble. This means that TikTok will show me comments it thinks I’ll find funny or interesting. My past behavior on the app controls my future views. So even though some think being the first comment is important, it's almost completely irrelevant.