(Mis)Uses of Technology

(Mis)Uses of Technology

by Carlo Longino




Making Ringback Tones Even More Annoying

Ringback tones haven't gotten off to a big start in the US, beset by a number of issues, not least of which the challenge inherent in explaining it to people. Now, some company thinks they've got the magic tonic to make ringbacks popular: by turning them into ads. Clearly, ringbacks aren't popular not because people don't care, but because they're just waiting for the chance to aurally spam anybody that calls them. Presumably the system will work by sharing the ad revenue with users and will be built on being able to sell advertisers huge numbers of impressions, but it doesn't seem like the attraction of either one will ever be big enough to get either end users or advertisers to sign up. Furthermore, what advertiser would want to pay for airtime that could get interrupted at anytime when somebody answers their phone?

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