[ben1040]

> it seems as if facebook/twitter are in a real place to sell me stuff i might actually want, which could be a great service in and of itself.

As a programmer working in data mining problems, I can certainly concede just don't find the idea of working on an ad platform to be sexy enough to work on.

But when I put my consumer hat on, I think highly relevant ads are just fine and I'm far, far more likely to click them and generate revenue for the person showing them to me.

A few months ago I booked a trip to SF, and alongside the e-ticket confirmation mail in my inbox there was a Gmail context ad for zeppelin tours of Silicon Valley from Airship Ventures. I had absolutely no idea this was available, but it seemed awesome, and immediately went to book a tour.

If you can show me an ad for something I might be interested in (a tour) at the time I'm most likely to make a purchase (I already had my credit card out from booking the airline reservation) then that's awesome. In fact I might even perceive that as a service if the product is something I would have never known about before.

[orangecat]

alongside the e-ticket confirmation mail in my inbox there was a Gmail context ad for zeppelin tours of Silicon Valley from Airship Ventures

That is freaking awesome and the best argument for context-sensitive ads I've seen. How was it?

[ben1040]

My scheduled zeppelin tour ended up getting rained out, but the next time I'm in the bay area and have the time to spare, I'm totally going to give it another try.