Google begins placing email-like ads inside Gmail inbox

Scorpus

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google gmail ads email inbox

Google has begun testing a new form of advertising for a small portion of Gmail users, delivering email-like ads inside the "Promotions" tab of the new three-tabbed Gmail inbox. This particular form of ads differs from what was previously seen in Gmail, as they appear directly in the user's inbox; other forms of ads in Gmail are usually placed outside the actual inbox, mostly above the main section of the interface.

According to CNET, these ads not only look like emails in the user's inbox, but also act in a similar way. When you click on one of these particular ads it opens like an email, and you have the option to forward it to friends or simply dismiss it so you don't receive it again. In the inbox they appear slightly different to actual emails with a shaded background and the word "ad" appearing below the sender's name.

The new in-inbox ads are part of Google's Sponsored Promotions plan for Gmail, which Google describes as:

Instead of ads always appearing at the top of your inbox, they've been relegated to a more appropriate place in your Promotions category. In addition, we've raised the quality of these ads and won't show you an ad unless it's relevant -- which means you may sometimes see no ads at all in your Promotions tab. You can also dismiss the ads you see in your Promotions tab by clicking the "X" button on the right-hand side.

If you're a user that has been chucked into the beta program for this particular form of Gmail advertising, there doesn't appear to be any way to opt out of it. One way to remove the ads is to remove the Promotions tab entirely, which can be done by clicking the plus button beside the tabs in your inbox. However, if you'd like to still have the functionality of the Promotions tab, which gathers promotional emails from various companies, you'll have to put up with the ads for now.

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I just removed the extra tabs, it seems a seriously pointless design. I'm happy with a basic inbox and don't intend to use the additions, I'm sure many others will do the same.

Just simply in the options choose Inbox and deselect the others, it goes back to being a basic inbox instead. You still get the emails I'm sure, they just feel like sorting them it seems. Guess it's good for those, who really like easy access to certain emails.
 
The Dark Knight nailed it "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." It's the beginning of the end! Get out your Tin foil hats, put on your armadill'a underpants and get your bomb shelter ready, the internet giant that is Google is going to enslave us all!
 
I will move myself and all my thousands of GMail\Google Apps clients to Microsoft if Goog tries to force this behavior on our inbox. It will be the beginning of the end of Google in my world.
 
I don't mind the ad's as long as they're placed behind the 'promotions' tab which I've disabled. If they appear in my inbox I'll report them as spam and block them.
 
I too will now have to delete my promotions tab. I didn't mind having it because it kept some of the spam like content separate from the main inbox. If they hadn't treated it like spam even it might have worked. Instead of having the checkbox on the left side of the "ads" like regular emails you either have to open the message or on the very right is the "X" to get rid of it. If it had the simple checkbox like normal at least I could delete them easily and I wouldn't be too bothered. The ads just seem too forced. I'd rather pay a yearly fee for a special version of gmail than deal with damn ads. It's bad enough that we all have to deal with spam in email, which gmail has always been exceptional at blocking, but now we have to deal with purposely put spam right in our email permnantly placed at the top none the less. /sigh
 
What do they think is going to happen when eventually one of those ads contains malware and somebody clicks on it because they look like emails? that could ruin somebody's computer, and it definitely brings distrust to google. alot of college websites use a google-based email system, and that puts their security at risk too. why can't they just put the adds in their notification box and leave them there?
 
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