[Infowarrior] - Google starts placing ads directly in Gmail inboxes

[Richard Forno]

Google starts placing ads directly in Gmail inboxes

Trying a new method of making money off its free e-mail service, the Internet giant has begun putting ads in Gmail's "promotions" category.

by Stephen Shankland
July 22, 2013 6:13 AM PDT

Google has begun including advertisements as e-mail messages in some Gmail users' inboxes, a new step in the company's effort to turn its free services into revenue sources.

The company has shown ads alongside Gmail messages for years, but these ads appear as messages that can be opened like e-mails and forwarded to others, according to Gmail users who started seeing them last week. They appear only in the new "promotions" tab of Gmail's new multi-tab interface, and they're marked with a pale yellow background and labeled "ad," similar to how Google treats some search ads that appear above or to the right of search results.

The ads aren't likely to sit well with a lot of people already dealing with plenty of inbox clutter -- especially those who have appreciated Gmail's abilities to weed out spam. "Inbox tabs should only include your messages, not ads disguised as email," opined Alex Chitu on the unofficial Google Operating System blog after seeing the ads last week.

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http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57594819-93/google-starts-placing-ads-directly-in-gmail-inboxes/

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