Lying advert

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roguemat

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I just saw a Vodacom flash advert that says: "Get more than 15000 tweets...for just R29...100MB".

So let's put this into KB: 100 * 1024 = 102400KB
Now divide that by 15000 tweets: 102400 / 15000 = 6.83KB
So each tweet would need to be just under 7KB.

I opened up Fiddler and caught the HTTPS traffic using the mobile site (mobile.twitter).
Initial load (excluding login. Clearing cache): 104KB
To send a tweet using half of the available chars: 8.54KB

So now let's say you login once and then send 15000 tweets:
104 + (8.54 * 15000) = 128204 KB (roughly 125MB).
So the above sum goes 25MB over the amount of data, plus totally ignores that noone would ever send 15000 tweets in one go, plus presumes that in all that time of tweeting that not a single person you follow tweets anything (else it will need to load that new data/profile pic on reload after you tweet).

I have ofcourse left out the fact that they might be using a Twitter app - but show me an app that uses less than the mobile site and I will eat my hat.

Is my maths wrong? Have I maybe forgotten something?
 
I haven't followed your calculations and I don't use tweets, but we are all losing bytes due to the TCP/IP protocol and packet fragmentation.
 
Even Jannie agreed that this is pathetic marketing on Vodacom's part...
 
We used to get a memo of approximate things you could do with a certain amount of data. Say 3000 Songs with 1.2 gig or whatever the case might have been. I think it is pretty reasonable to assume that these are approximate figures seeing that no all MP3 songs are 4meg....some are 3.5 meg etc. It is to give the client a idea of what could be done with it. I still get queries from clients asking me..."So...how long will 750 meg last me then" It is so difficult to explain to someone that does not understand the concept of kilobytes, megs and gigs. We need some form of reference to give them.
 
DJ... said:
Even Jannie agreed that this is pathetic marketing on Vodacom's part...
Click to expand...

It might not be 100% accurate...but I would not call it pathetic. Ideal...no....I do not think so...pathetic...nope...dont think so either. Like I said in my previous post....there are people that dont understand the concept of kilobytes, megs and gigs. This can give them some kind of reference at least. My mom would be one of these people for example.
 
ocleroux said:
It might not be 100% accurate...but I would not call it pathetic. Ideal...no....I do not think so...pathetic...nope...dont think so either. Like I said in my previous post....there are people that dont understand the concept of kilobytes, megs and gigs. This can give them some kind of reference at least. My mom would be one of these people for example.
Click to expand...
Yes but this is really far off any base line usage?
If they said 5000 that could be okay.

@Garyvdh at 34,830 posts maybe you need the same advice..
 
How about porn or illegal mp3 based advertising. R29 for the Paris Hilton video (360p) and the new leaked Jack Parow song. Sounds like a bargain to me...
 
roguemat said:
Yes but this is really far off any base line usage?
If they said 5000 that could be okay.

@Garyvdh at 34,830 posts maybe you need the same advice..
Click to expand...

I suppose...but I dont know what the max character for tweets are. From what I understand...most tweets are rather short....like one liners not so? It is mostly your good and proper twits (I believe that is the actual term no so?) that tweets rather long messages like news sites etc. Taking that into consideration it might come closer to the Vodacom figure of 15 000? That is the thing with data....it is so damn hard to get a approximate usage out of it.
 
ocleroux said:
It might not be 100% accurate...but I would not call it pathetic. Ideal...no....I do not think so...pathetic...nope...dont think so either. Like I said in my previous post....there are people that dont understand the concept of kilobytes, megs and gigs. This can give them some kind of reference at least. My mom would be one of these people for example.
Click to expand...

People who have no conception of data usage are typically not your serial-tweeters. It is pathetic marketing IMHO.

Sure, as smartphones become more accessible people need to be informed of their data usage, but flat-batting 1 million or a few thousand tweets as a benchmark is just ridiculous. It doesn't actually give a user a real perception of actual data usage. Instead it lulls the uninformed into unwarranted complacency...
 
DJ... said:
People who have no conception of data usage are typically not your serial-tweeters. It is pathetic marketing IMHO.

Sure, as smartphones become more accessible people need to be informed of their data usage, but flat-batting 1 million or a few thousand tweets as a benchmark is just ridiculous. It doesn't actually give a user a real perception of actual data usage. Instead it lulls the uninformed into unwarranted complacency...
Click to expand...

mmm ja....I can understand where you guys are coming from...but I can also see where Vodacom is coming from. I personally dont like the idea all that much of using tweets as a means of data measure. I prefer where in one of our memo's they broke it down between:

web pages
MP3's
emails

It gave a better understanding I think....but that is just my view.
 
roguemat said:
...
To send a tweet using half of the available chars: 8.54KB...
Click to expand...

Now do you base your usage on a single Tweet or did you do at least a dozen and then use the average usage? Also was there a page reload after each Tweet, this would contribute towards the usage and since your browser should be caching some data (eg CSS), you should have noticed less traffic usage.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Now do you base your usage on a single Tweet or did you do at least a dozen and then use the average usage? Also was there a page reload after each Tweet, this would contribute towards the usage and since your browser should be caching some data (eg CSS), you should have noticed less traffic usage.
Click to expand...
Based of multiple tweets averaged. Each one did a reload after tweeting and only loaded the uncached items hence the load being WAY smaller than the initial.
 
File an ASA complaint, so the ad is withdrawn and the less-informed aren't suckered in.
There's a guide on how to file a complaint in the Telecoms Regulatory subforum.
 
AvatarS said:
File an ASA complaint, so the ad is withdrawn and the less-informed aren't suckered in.
There's a guide on how to file a complaint in the Telecoms Regulatory subforum.
Click to expand...
Thanks, found it!
Will send it in.

EDIT: done.
 
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