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I’ll start: Fake urgency (“Only 2 left!”) AI-generated comments Clickbait headlines Generic influencer promotions At the same time, I think communities, personal brands, and user-generated content will become even bigger. What trend do you think is on its way out, and which one is taking its...

Everyone seems obsessed with algorithms, AI tools, SEO tricks, PPC campaigns, and endless analytics. Meanwhile, some of the most successful campaigns are incredibly simple. So, if you could master only one skill, what would it be? SEO, PPC, copywriting, email marketing, branding, or something...

Which makes them even harder to ignore, even when we insist we hate them.

So as long as human impulse, curiosity, search intent, and accidental taps exist, ads aren't going anywhere.

That puts the "billions spent" into perspective. You only need a tiny fraction of a percent of people to convert for the return on investment to make sense.

Do click-through rates actually have to be high for all of this to be profitable?

Wow, that’s infuriatingly clever.

Like those weird mobile game ads where the video gameplay looks nothing like the actual game?

But why do companies still run those obnoxiously loud or ugly banner ads that everybody complains about?

So saying "I hate ads" really just means "I hate interruptions that have nothing to do with me."

Oof, late-night impulse shopping is real.

What about social media ads? I’ll be scrolling Instagram, see an ad for a hyper-specific kitchen gadget, hate myself for stopping, and then end up on their checkout page five minutes later.

True! The line between "helpful search result" and "paid placement" has gotten super blurry over the last few years.

So we’re essentially being conditioned without realizing it?

That feels so dirty though. Doesn't tricking people like that just breed brand resentment?

Okay fair, but what about accidental clicks? Half the time on mobile, the entire layout shifts right as I’m about to tap an article and suddenly I’m loading a page for enterprise software.

I swear everyone I talk to says they install ad blockers and skip YouTube ads after 5 seconds, yet global ad spending hits hundreds of billions every year. Who is actually clicking these?