I think heuristics are going to be the next thing for this. Look at priority inbox, for example. It may not be perfect yet but it’s beyond spam detection (mainly based on who things are from) and into what you personally interact with most often. On Facebook you can already say “don’t show me this person’s updates ever again” but imagine if it could be more subtle than that, and learn from what you comment on and like. I’m sure they’re already working on it. I don’t like the economic model because of the obvious unfairness that creates. If you could get virtual currency a la stackoverflow for creating ‘liked’ content and rating others’ content well, that you can then spend on promoting your own stuff, that might solve it, with the addition of personal heuristics to customise.

I don’t fully understand why some don’t want targeted ads. I don’t want ads for things I don’t care about, but the more relevant the ad is the more likely it is to be useful rather than annoying! The idea that they are stealing your data is also prevalent, when really they are improving your experience *with* your permission. Sure, FB have definitely used it for unethical purposes but that’s an argument against the ethos of FB, not against the use of personal data to customise the experience of the user. That’s morally neutral.