Computer savvy users dont click on ads?

[Farmer77]

This is something I didn't think about until I completed my first site. I know this is being very vague, but there seems to be four different types of internet users out there:

1. The casual adult user over +35 years old and was using AOL not too long ago or still do.

2. The young kids who aren't computer nerds, but they go on Myspace, play cheap flash game sites and probably have a trojan from clicking on everything.

3. The young kids who ARE computer nerds and know the latest lingos, spends a lot of time playing computer games or programming and are well informed overall about internet culture.

4. And then you have the Digg/Slashdot crowd.


Has anyone ever designed a site that is geared towards type #3 and #4 and found their adsense Clickthrough rate lower with these types of people?
I remember reading how someone got Digged and recieved thousands upon thousands of page views but maybe only got like 5 adsense clicks out of it. and he said that his regular flow of traffic receives more than that.

[Chris]

Yes, I too have heard about how Digg users supposedly click on ads less... then of course Digg is entirely ad supported.

I think that such users are less likely to be tricked into clicking on ads, but for the most part they still click on ads if they find them useful. Of course, within that crowd, there are some ad nazis who do refuse to click on, or sometimes even view, ads for any reason whatsoever.

[Cutter]

I once had an article on the front page of Slashdot. Got 30,000 or so uniques, made about $1.50 on Adsense. Granted, my ad positions sucked cause I didn't know what I was really doing then.

[KLB]

I consider myself pretty computer savvy and I'll still click on ads that interest me, but I'm very unlikely to be tricked into clicking on stupid ads.

Really the only people who claim computer savvy people don't click on ads are those who have an agenda against ads. I think most "normal" people even if they are really computer savvy will still click on good ads that they are interested in, but as Chris said computer savvy users won't be easily tricked into clicking on ads. This is an important difference.

[Kyle]

I generally dont even glance at and completely ignore adsense ads.
The only adsense ads that get my attention are when google delivers one ad into a large space, with enlarged text. Often seen here on websitepublisher.

[cameron]

I've purposely clicked about 5 ads within the past couple of years. A few of them were simply because I run advertising on my own sites and upon seeing them thought "What is that ad for?" or "What is this ad campaign trying to do?".

I think it makes sense that computer savvy users click less.

[AmbulanceBlues]

The presence of ads almost doesn't even register in my mind. Only since I started getting in to web publishing and reading this site have I started clicking on ads, and then mostly just to learn about the products/sites/advertisers.

[Chris]

I of course included myself when I said I think people still click if interested.