4 ms·

I worked at Meta for many years. We extensively researched this phenomenon ("I was talking about XYZ, then 30 minutes later, I saw an ad for it! The mics must b

I worked at Meta for many years. We extensively researched this phenomenon ("I was talking about XYZ, then 30 minutes later, I saw an ad for it! The mics must be on!") The conclusion we drew was much more nefarious than "the machines are listening". It's that you, personally, are a very basic machine of patterns and habit. You took as input some signal that you were not concious of which STIMULATED you to talk about XYZ. That same signal was in your environment. It stimulated others who match your demographic profile. They made explicit search engine queries for it. Since you are almost exactly the same person as the people in your environment, you are a high-value user account to target that same ad to since the likelihood that it would be in your unconscious mind and thus trigger a buy-signal when you see the ad is higher. TLDR, you are not special. You are a meat computer consuming the same environmental input data as everyone you know. You are almost the same in your behavior and desires as your peers. If this wasn't true, ad targeting would not be worth a bazillion dollars.

theprivacydad 3y ago
Interesting take, thanks!
tracker1 3y ago
Take your android phone, and start talking to a SO, or friend about something completely unrelated to anything you are going to search for online... Such as talking to your SO (who isn't pregnant, or able to become pregnant) about having a baby, baby clothes, needing diapers... etc. Nothing online about that, no searches, no emails on the topic... because you aren't in fact having a baby. Then pay attention to the ads you start to see. In my specific case, it was for a specific software I used to use well over a decade ago, and suggested against as it became a really crappy product. The circle I was talking with was a random group of strangers at a restaurant on an impromptu conversaion. It was not my friend group, or anything that was merely coincidence that I received ads for that specific software. And what makes you think that I feel I'm a special case on this... your devices are absolutely tracking you, listening and intaking every bit of information Google, MS and Apple can acquire. It's nothing special about me at all.

theprivacydad 3y ago

Interesting take, thanks!

tracker1 3y ago

Take your android phone, and start talking to a SO, or friend about something completely unrelated to anything you are going to search for online... Such as talking to your SO (who isn't pregnant, or able to become pregnant) about having a baby, baby clothes, needing diapers... etc. Nothing online about that, no searches, no emails on the topic... because you aren't in fact having a baby. Then pay attention to the ads you start to see. In my specific case, it was for a specific software I used to use well over a decade ago, and suggested against as it became a really crappy product. The circle I was talking with was a random group of strangers at a restaurant on an impromptu conversaion. It was not my friend group, or anything that was merely coincidence that I received ads for that specific software. And what makes you think that I feel I'm a special case on this... your devices are absolutely tracking you, listening and intaking every bit of information Google, MS and Apple can acquire. It's nothing special about me at all.