Astrophsx

Right, but if TPG website pays for it and he no longer owns the website would it not be bankrate paying? Not that it really matters, but here is an example... I paid $32,000 to fly in the Residence... Is Brian saying he paid out of his own pocket for the ticket out of pocket or is the company paying for the flight. If my company pays for me to fly first class I wouldn't claim that I paid for the ticket.

Adam1222

On one's taxes, you can deduct legitimate business expenses if they aren't paid for by your employer.
Brian's income arrangement isn't also entirely clear. He equivocated in this article in 2014 https://skift.com/2014/12/01/the-blu...ravel-writers/ But even if the website is owned by Bankrate and he's salaried (unlikely) doesn't mean he doesn't get income from other sources for speaking engagements, writing, etc..

no1cub17

Finally watched TPGtv for the first time - the "here are my completely obnoxious reasons to fly the SQ suites special" - soooooooo boring! I'm sorry - TPG is obviously very good at what he does, but that might've been the most boring 2 minute video I've ever seen. Made SQ suites seem tired and lame (which they look anything but!). So just curious also - there's no way he always finds 2-3 saver awards on routes like this (or maybe he does) - so does he use miles for himself, pay cash for his crew, and then deduct that as a business expense?

gpapadop

>>>>>>>>>so does he use miles for himself, pay cash for his crew, and then deduct that as a business expense?

My (good) guess: It's all cash paid by his employer. You know the company that employs him right?

kokonutz

So. Many Face. Book. Ads.



I can't go on my the face book wall without this guy trying to sell me a credit card!

TheBOSman

Same. I have two friends who like "The Points Guy", and I get flooded with his ads.

skunker

To think some people don't believe he bought his million likes.

tlott

Could also be retargeted ads targeting you because of a past visit to his site.

Or both.

Raffles

More likely that you follow an airline or hotel chain whose likes he is targetting.

FB is astonishingly good for this. If you want to reach pregnant women under 30 in London, it can do it for you. That's why it makes the money.

skunker

Go on...

CRAZ8

You do know you can tell Facebook not to show that ad again.

I wonder if FB can target 'grumpy people who hide ads'?

SkyBuck

Of course they can.

But, having identified them, wouldn't it be pointless to show them an ad?

CRAZ8

If you can target a group for ads, you can also target a group to NOT send ads - this would save you a bit if you were buying ads.

On the other hand, you could try to craft an ad that appeals to people who don't like ads - perhaps an ad for an Ad Blocker (which would be a bit ironic)

But, for your personal Facebook Experience, if you don't like something - a Post, an Ad etc - you can tell Facebook to not show you stuff. I've spent time hiding crap posts and stupid surveys from apps and sites my friends post, and my feed is much cleaner as a result. Same for ads.

pairofkeets

See this is the whole point of what Facebook (and much of the web that makes money off of advertising) is trying to do. The end goal is to make ads that don't LOOK like ads, and they have gotten pretty good at it. Nobody liked ads before because they were intrusive, obnoxious, and weren't relevant. Slowly, they have become less of all of these things to the point that tons of these ads look just like regular posts, especially on the mobile platform. Think the subliminal branding advertisements in movies, where the cars all all BMWs and phones are all branded by Samsung etc.

It's just like how some blog posts look like travel posts, but in reality its just a credit card advertisements, or try to sell you some "must have travel accessories." People are more likely to read and click on an advertisement if it doesn't look like one at first.

kokonutz

The most recent season of South Park had a season-long arc that explained all of this quite accurately and hilariously.


I don't think TPG is a sentient ad. But he's pretty darn close!