We've recently released an app on iOS that has ads and is aimed at a younger audience. We have an option to remove the ads and it comes with an added ability to put a childlock on in app messaging. Later when we add a store into the app we will add features to lock it further because we want to do right by our customers who we hope include parents of kids.
What I didn't expect was the slump in sales we make from ad removal offerings. We make more money from the ads than from purchases of ad removal. I see a lot of folks say "I'll pay for a no ads experience" but the reality is most folks will continue to use the app with the ads even when the option to remove them exists.
Adding code to handle ad removal is another feature which takes time to develop and keep up to date as APIs and system versions change. Sadly, it may not be lucrative enough for most developers to put that effort in to provide the option.
> We make more money from the ads than from purchases of ad removal.
Yes, you’ll make more money doing the bad thing which people are complaining about. This will always be true. If you could make more money the other way, you would do it, and people would have nothing to complain about. Therefore, the fact that you can make more money is not a valid reason to keep doing it.
If you are targeting kids and serving up ads by default, you are NOT "doing right by your customers". It might be a wide-spread practice, but it doesn't make it any less unethical. Saying as a parent.
When one of the ads in your ad gets clicked, what do you think is the most likely reason? That a child was interested in the product and wanted to get more information before making a decision?
I hope that changes in the future! Looking for a really good course on TensorFlow. Udacity's Self-Driving Car nanodegree is also very hands-on in terms of learning TensorFlow. You build your own mini version.
This.
I'm taking the class now. Octave is invaluable and I wouldn't be able to complete the course without it. I've donated and agree that anyone that takes the course to contribute too.
I'm not sure if I agree with the sentiment that you need to pivot. There is a huge need to create a website by individuals and companies. Not everyone wants a social media page.
As a privacy concern I didn't want to give up my facebook information so I backed out of trying it.
The point where I became hesitant and backed out was when it showed my picture and said you wanted my public profile, friend list and email address. Why would this site need my friends list?
Same, noticed the Facebook button and walked away. Show me some live examples, and include a how it works page, and you might grab my interest.
Please people, stop requiring users to login to learn about your application or service. Why are you putting a giant hurdle at the front door? Signing up should be the very last step. For example, let me setup a Webbify page, and if I want to save it, I need to create an account. At that point, I'm invested, I'm much more likely to register.
Facebook is horrible at this. You can't not ask for it. In fact, you don't ask for it. Access is automatically granted, whether you want it or not.
I suspect that this might change when there's some massive security breach that causes a big publicly visible compromise (millions of friend lists get abused/compromised by some rogue bot targeting loads of apps using Facebook as just a single sign-on provider), and it'll get changed.
I've had a couple of MVP apps I've demoed to people, wanting to use FB as a SSO, and get quite a bit of "DAMN YOU - YOU'RE NOT GETTING MY FRIEND LIST! YOU DON'T NEED IT!" You're right, I don't. Tell Facebook. I don't want it.
