[koyanisqatsi]

I don't think ad-tech is going away anytime soon. It would be nice but it's not gonna happen because the fundamental problem is not the ads but the fact that most social networks are not sustainable without advertising so the platform participants end up being treated like cash cows that are milked for all they're worth.

If Twitter was paid for by its participants then they would not have to put up with advertisers. Right now the advertisers subsidize the operational costs so they get to dictate what features are developed and what kind of invasive access they have to behavioral data for optimizing their marketing campaigns.

[tcmart14]

And the worst part. I think there are a lot of us who would be willing to pay for being on a good social network without ads, but I don't think there is enough of us. Too many people have been trained via myspace, facebook and twitter that social media is just "free." It it is going to be hard to change the masses on that.

[hnfong]

As long as somebody has friends who can't afford say $10 per month for social media, the network effect takes over and the result will inevitably be ad-ridden crap.

I might be willing to pay to turn off ads and tracking on such a platform, but if all the middle-class+ people pay to turn off ads, which advertisers would want to spend money targeting "poor" people and people too cheap to pay a couple dollars for using social media?

[tjr225]

Unfortunately I agree with you. Nobody is going to pay for a screaming match, though. The fact that it was free is the only reason we’re here.

Maybe this will shake out just fine anyway.