TidyRead Deals Blow to Display Ads, Enables User Tune-Out
Nothing better illustrates the brokenness of the Internet's most traditional revenue model than the recent crop of ad-stripping services.
"Users want to have a clean layout to read a blog or news site," said TidyRead developer Matthew Chen. His Firefox add-on creates a sweet, hyper-relevant overlay as users browse through content, blocking out all the noise and distraction while leaving the cream of the content fully intact.
Like competitor Readability, TidyRead acts as a highly intuitive sifter, separating the wheat--main text, images, video, and bookmarking and social sharing functions--from the chaff, which runs the gamut from irritating, flashy skyscrapers to possibly interesting related links.
"For the algorithm," said Chen, "we use the DOM algorithm, example-based learning and extraction, rule-based unrelated content removal, simple-machine learning, and natural-language processing to try to recognize the text content and related images and videos.
"Sometimes, I am amazed that our simple algorithms work well when I test TidyRead on some complicated pages that are very hard for humans to read."
The implications of such services are astoundingly obvious for those who follow Internet business models: Ads don't work. Not only are click-through rates pathetically low AND inaccurate as engagement measurement; users are becoming more and more irritated with online display ads. Study after study shows that the user's eye is trained to tune out what is largely seen as irrelevant advertising while honing in on the actual content of a page. TidyRead merely facilitates this most common of user behaviors.
TidyRead is currently available as a Firefox add-on, working automagically to transform blog or news pages before the ads even load. "If we are not sure a page is an article, we don't automatically overlay the original page. We don't want to mess up a user's normal surfing."
Chen and team are also working on an Internet Explorer plugin, a Safari bookmarklet, and a Chrome add-on (Google's Chrome browser's add-on feature will be debuted in a couple weeks, said Chen).
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Curious to see if google will appreciate the Chrome add on if it nukes publisher's adsense ad units.
Probably not. But users often don't appreciate or notice those ads anyhow. Isn't this a sign that we all need to find a better way to monetize the Internet, that ads alone aren't cutting it?
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Just installed it. I guess we'll see how it goes. But the question I have is: If not ads, what sort of revenue model will work online? Or maybe: Is there such a thing as an online revenue model at all?
Just restarted. My assessment: TinyRead pretty much rocks. It makes washingtonpost.com bearable.
So Matthew Chen, wants to install software in your browser? Too bad he's a former alleged malware vendor. His real name is Liren Chen and his "Zero Popup Pro" product received a review in CNet that stated "Product has SPYWARE BUILT into it": http://download.cnet.com/3642-20_4-1627074.html?pn=2&sb=1
TidyRead claims "We NEVER collect or disclosure information from the bookmarklet users and add-on users." Let's hope that is true.
(looks to the right of this post... notices an ENTIRE COLUMN of ads...)
awesome. If you folks truly believe in this model take the ads off the site. Oh, hold it...
I'm sure that these addons/bookmarklets will gain some popularity, but think about it - that ads on this siste pay your wages. If those go away or become so marginalized that they generate next to no revenue how will the RWW staff get paid? Maybe you could host conferences or events, but I'm betting that will nor work for most sites. So... no ads. People don't want to pay for content on either a subscription or micropayment basis. Remove foundation and tax support. Set aside event revenue as something that will work for a minority of sites in any given niche. What's left? Consulting? Possible conflict of interest.
Let's face it you folks aren't going to do this for free - you CAN'T... you need to pay rent and buy food. SO if ads are made even less viable as a means of support, what's left? Or have we raised a generation of web users who expect everything for nothing? That's a fantasy, just like funding consumer spending on credit forever is a fantasy. At some point people need to be compensated for creating value... otherwise they won't or will have do so out of a love for the activity and support themselves via other means.
"Beware", this is ridiculous.
First we develop "Zero Popup" that is still live at http://www.tooto.com/popup-killer/. It is not adware or spyware at all. But some company created a software called "Zero Popup Pro" that confused our users and it was almost destroyed our product although we fight hard with them. You can still see the statement at tooto site:
"It has come to our attention that a company www.zeropopup.com is marketing a spyware called "ZeroPopUp". Some people have been confused by this and thought the annoying came from our site. Tooto Technologies ( wwww.tooto.com ) has NOTHING to do with their product. If your computer has been infected with this program, please follow this link for instructions on removing it."
Second, you know, the add-on is written in xul and javascript and all the codes are under the sun. There is no secrect hidden there. All the images and javascripts are from the installed package, it doesn't connect any outside server.
Am I right that this plug-in comes with it own themes, pressing each web page into them, so that each page completely loses its individuality? i don't see any point in this. this makes browsing through the web absolutely boring. i'm using ad block for firefox and i'm fine.
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How is this much different from Instapaper? However I do applaud solutions that remove all the clutter from some websites.
Now I don't mind these existing per se, but website owners should be able to know whether a user is using one of the ad blocking scripts/add-ons.
If the website owner decides that he doesn't want people viewing his/her content without the ads present then they should be able to prevent users from seeing it that way (and maybe offer an ad free version of the site for a very small fee)
Blocking pop-ups and audio ads are one thing (and I agree they ruin a browsing experience), but how is a content site supposed to exist with tools like these. This removes the possibility of a business model where websites can charge for ad free access, whilst also removing their advertising revenue stream.
By using it the no of ads displayed on your blog will disappear...
Hell, what will work if not ads? What is the other revenue stream when all else we get for free and only advertising is something for which we pay?
How this different than the AdBlock (also a firefox extension)? As I believe the creator of AdBlock died recently, perhaps this product fails due to lack of updates but it has proven to be very useful over time. On a related thought, Google previously was a huge firefox supporter then they shifted gears and created their own browser. I wonder if the whole reason for chrome's creation was to keep it free of ad blocking software.
I would say TidyRead is more for improving the reading experience on the web, instead of blocking ads. It is just a click away to close the TidyRead overlay and return to untouched original page.
Many advertisements can be blocked by using the hosts file. See this page for more info:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
Two of my favorites to block are google-analytics.com and pagead2.googlesyndication.com since it's none of their business what sites I visit or how often, and I don't mind missing out on their page ads.
Keep in mind that if the advertisements are coming from the same server that the page content is from, they won't be blocked by this method, but you will see a lot fewer ads.
few thoughts...
1. irony of this site and many others running ads
2. It doesn't just remove ads... gasp... it removes any social sharing of content
3. just as many studies have been done on design of a page helping, not just text (we don't all want to read a newspaper on our computer screen)
4. the engagement study is misrepresented above... that study refers to CTR not engagement scores. Just look to the thousands of market norm studies to see the impact a well-designed, placed and created ad can deliver
5. people hate all ads... but they don't, without ads what else do they have to talk about? we all just hate punch the monkey ads.
6. open the door for product placement in content ... no one will like that either.
7. if i were a betting gal, which i am, this will fizzle out quickly.
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> Second, you know, the add-on is written in xul
> and javascript and all the codes are under the
> sun. There is no secrect hidden there.
Well, but the content of, say, tidyread.min.js is minified which is really complicate the code checking. Where can I obtain a non-minified copy?
For all those, "if not ads what" commenters. Ads will not go away completely but the days of getting all content for free are slowly coming to an end.
And for sake of this argument let's take away all user pay revenue sources. A premium content site with original, factual reporting has many licensing options.
Nice articles
thanks