Make People Click Ads

“The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.” – Jeff Hammerbacher, Early Facebook Employee

(via @alexismadrigal‘s #99conf talk)

13 Comments leave a comment below

  1. terrible, if you really think about it. Relevancy is the answer! (just my humble opinion)

  2. A lost generation, a greedy generation.

  3. It’s all wrong, and they act like you’re wrong when you want to do something else.

  4. I do wonder who will be remembered as the greats of our current society by future generations looking back. If you just look at the Internet, so many people just seem to want to get rich quick, by manipulating everyone else. And the most depressing thing is the number of people who are content to click away their lives…

  5. sounds like another reason on my list of reasons to not like facebook, if you ask me

  6. “sounds like another reason on my list of reasons to not like facebook, if you ask me”

    I don’t know who that person is but without the context of the remark one could also say that it is possible that he is taking a shot at his generation and/or facebook.

  7. Ughhhh so true! Makes me boycott certain outlets……heres hoping i never become one of those ppl!!! Im only three months into the blogging game andi hoping to can keep it real always!

  8. This is the kind of soundbite that sounds great as a tweet and is easy to get passionate about. However when I start to think about what he’s *really* saying, I don’t think he’s right at all. What does he mean, “the best minds of our generation”? How is he judging that? Is there a standard? And how does he know they’re all working in advertising? I have very smart friends that are finishing doctorates in medicine and meteorology. They’re some of the smartest minds of our generation and they’re going to save lives (my meteorologist friend’s dissertation was about predicting destructive weather patterns like El Nino).

    I know it’s trendy to scoff at creatives that use their talents for advertising, but there are plenty of smart people that aren’t doing that. To say our generation is lost because of the rise of online advertising is a silly generalization.

  9. I agree with you Kyle. Plenty of great minds of our generation of doing great things. It is the ‘creatives’ who want the attention get all the notice.

    When I first read that quote I immediately thought of the opening to Howl by Allen Ginsberg

    “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
    dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
    Angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection
    to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night,”

  10. I agree with Kyle…but we can’t wish away the role of advertising (or should I call it clicking). Advertising is what makes the world go round. I am still thinking of ways of increase my daily clicks!

  11. comment and see my blog…:)

  12. what can i say, the internet is a global market place and almost every firm has an online presence to advertise their products or services. i for instance got here through google by clicking on your link. everyone with an online presence demands clicks directly or indirectly:)