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Targeted Ads - How do they know?

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  • 07-12-2018 2:00pm
    #1
    .......
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,057 ✭✭✭


    Earlier this week I went to a shop that I rarely go to. Its got an unusual name and not many branches.

    I paid with a card. I told some people in work I had gone there and bought something and showed them.

    The next day i got a targeted ad on Facebook for this shop. I noticed because of its unusual name. I dont ever recall getting a targeted ad for them before.

    How do they know? Was it the card payment? Or is someone listening through my phone when I tell people I was there?


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Comments

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    #2
    Captain Red Beard
    Registered Users Posts: 871 ✭✭✭Captain Red Beard


    Sorcery.


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    #3
    SEPT 23 1989
    Registered Users Posts: 43,028 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    Something not someone is listening through your phone


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    #4
    IRE60
    Registered Users Posts: 1,880 ✭✭✭IRE60


    Geo-Location! If you have the F/B app it is possibly seeing/reading where you are geographically. It then sends this back to F/B HQ and bingo - targeted ads.


    I think you can either turn that off in your maps or the FB app - or leave your phone in a locked metal box!


    C


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    #5
    Sonics2k
    Registered Users Posts: 8,239 ✭✭✭Sonics2k


    Probably Location turned on your phone. Facebook/Google will detect you were there, time you spent there and determine if you were there long enough to purchase something.

    Never ever underestimate just how well these algorithms can predict what items you'll want to buy based on your browsing habits.


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    #6
    TheIrishGrover
    Registered Users Posts: 6,005 ✭✭✭TheIrishGrover


    Cookies on your PC/phone/whatever based on your browsing history. Clear your browser history (including cookies) if you want to get rid of them.


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    #7
    wakka12
    Registered Users Posts: 9,786 ✭✭✭wakka12


    Geo locations, listening to you through microphone sounds very illegal


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    #8
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,249 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    wakka12 wrote: »
    Geo locations, listening to you through microphone sounds very illegal

    Not if you read and agreed to the terms of use, and granted permission.


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    #9
    pxdf9i5cmoavkz
    Closed Accounts Posts: 827 ✭✭✭pxdf9i5cmoavkz


    Have you ever noticed the times the targeted ad got it wrong?

    Perhaps the people you told about the shop later searched for details about the shop. And since facebook knows you're friends with them thought you may be interested in that shop too.

    This however may cause you to put on your tinfoil hat. Browser fingerprints


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    #10
    Alun
    Registered Users Posts: 21,436 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Geolocation, browser history etc. etc. which results in a few odd, and rather pointless, outcomes.

    Firstly when I get targeted ads to get me to buy something I've actually just bought anyway, often in the same online shop I bought it from.

    Secondly when I've been abroad and get bombarded with ads in foreign languages for products and services I can't avail of anyway. Even happens when I've been on Irish Ferries as their onboard WiFi seems to be provided by a Norwegian company so I get loads of Norwegian ads for weeks afterwards.


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    #11
    r439z5ifwt8soq
    Closed Accounts Posts: 76 ✭✭r439z5ifwt8soq


    Things like using your phones GPS to target location-based ads

    Also, a really interesting one is a thing called Facebook Pixel. It essentially allows Facebook to see what you do on the internet while you're not on Facebook

    If you're browsing on any website that is using Facebook Pixel, Facebook will get all that data and be able to target their ads at you based on your browsing habits.


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    #12
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,768 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    Zain Greasy Misfortune wrote: »
    Have you ever noticed the times the targeted ad got it wrong?

    Perhaps the people you told about the shop later searched for details about the shop. And since facebook knows you're friends with them thought you may be interested in that shop too.

    This however may cause you to put on your tinfoil hat. Browser fingerprints

    The best is when you've just come back from an amazing holiday and get ads about booking a holday ...


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    #13
    brevity
    Registered Users Posts: 8,503 ✭✭✭brevity


    Google and Facebook collect browsing history. This is done even when incognito mode is switched on.


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    #14
    .......
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,057 ✭✭✭.......


    But its a tiny shop - how would they know I was in there and not the one next door if its geolocation?

    I doubt the shop is even 4 metres wide.


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    #15
    .......
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,057 ✭✭✭.......


    I checked my google maps timeline.

    It knows I was in the shopping centre but not this tiny shop.


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    #16
    .......
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,057 ✭✭✭.......


    brevity wrote: »
    Google and Facebook collect browsing history. This is done even when incognito mode is switched on.

    I didnt browse to anything online for the shop. I dont even know if they have a website.

    It was a walking visit to a small bricks and mortar shop in a shopping centre.


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    #17
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    You can be tracked across devices too if logged in to Google or FB and the likes. Also possible is slurping of wifi access points history on your phone apps.

    Why they added you post sale is a retargetting snafu.

    Some targetting fails:
    Ad for Dead Like Me on an Obituary page.
    Best Hotel rates in Cairo on page reporting Arab Spring riots.
    Marijuana ad on article on kid sprinkling grass on lasagne mistaking it for herbs.


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    #18
    Cordell
    Registered Users Posts: 5,849 ✭✭✭Cordell


    AI and data mining (browsing and search history, location, personal habits). They know you better than you know yourself. They know when you go to bed and when you wake up. They know when you go to the jacks, and what for.

    No one is listening, that will be a huge risk and also a crude and ineffective method. And by they I mean the machines, no human can deal with this amount of data.


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    #19
    brevity
    Registered Users Posts: 8,503 ✭✭✭brevity


    https://twitter.com/DuckDuckGo/status/1069952162548146176?s=20

    Have a read of some of the articles in the Twitter thread above.

    The amount of data the companies have is mind boggling.


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    #20
    brevity
    Registered Users Posts: 8,503 ✭✭✭brevity


    ....... wrote: »
    I didnt browse to anything online for the shop. I dont even know if they have a website.

    It was a walking visit to a small bricks and mortar shop in a shopping centre.

    Then Facebook used the location data from your phone and found the shop from other people searching for this particular shop.


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    #21
    .......
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,057 ✭✭✭.......


    brevity wrote: »
    Then Facebook used the location data from your phone and found the shop from other people searching for this particular shop.

    Yes but how accurate is location data?

    I thought it was only to within 6 metres or so?

    This is a tiny shop in a big shopping centre, surrounded by other shops.

    I was in there about 5 minutes. I was in another shop too that I didnt buy anything in. I was also in a large penneys a couple of hundred of metres away and I did buy something.

    I can see on googles timeline that it knows I was in the shopping centre, but not the specific shop.

    I didnt think location services would be accurate enough to track you into a small shop?


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    #22
    .......
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,057 ✭✭✭.......


    sugarman wrote: »
    Accuracy is down to about 1m at present, so very possible.

    Really?

    Do you have any links for that, Ive had a google but Im not seeing anything that states that level of accuracy.

    Thats a hell of a lot more accurate than I thought it would be.


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    #23
    D3V!L
    Registered Users Posts: 2,925 ✭✭✭D3V!L


    How does your google home assistant know you've said "Hey Google", well its because its always listening to you. So is your phone.

    Try having a conversation about something in detail you wouldnt normally talk about, like going on holidays to a certain place while your phone is in ear shot. Then watch the targeted ad's over the next 24 - 48 hours about that place.


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    #24
    seamie78
    Registered Users Posts: 900 ✭✭✭seamie78


    Mrs OBumble wrote: »
    The best is when you've just come back from an amazing holiday and get ads about booking a holday ...

    A lot of people feel a bit down after a holiday because its over and cant wait to book their next one to have something to look forward to, imho it is an example of targeted advertising at its best


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    #25
    MetzgerMeister
    Registered Users Posts: 19,854 ✭✭✭✭MetzgerMeister


    It has happened to me, my girlfriend and my boss. For me I was talking to my girlfriend about painting my house and picking out colours. I hadn't gone near any hardware stores or anything of the sort beforehand. About 3 hours later I'm scrolling through Facebook and appearing in front of me are ads for paint, rollers, brushes etc.

    My girlfriend was talking to her sister about getting a new car. She mentioned several different cars but focused on the Mazda6. Later that night she had ads on Facebook for Mazda dealers in our area.

    My boss was talking to his partner in the office about having to go to Lidl to get food after work. Lo and behold a few minutes later he started getting ads for Lidl on Facebook.

    It's not just your browser history but when you install the Facebook app (and many other apps) on your phone it asks for permission to use the microphone. This isn't just for making calls through Messenger. I have since turned off the microphone permissions for all apps and haven't had this issue since. It's bloody creepy!


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    #26
    Kimbot
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 18,462 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kimbot


    Well OP, how do I tell you this.... I am stalking you for the last 6 months and I tagged you on my Facebook account as checked into the said shop. I have you blocked just in case you think I am a little weird but at least the ad is targetted to you now :P


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    #27
    Deebles McBeebles
    Registered Users Posts: 5,754 ✭✭✭Deebles McBeebles


    You buy one quadcopter and 3 years later, still quadcopter ads.

    Oh sh*t, I've typed quadcopter 3 times now. It may never end for me.


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    #28
    Kimbot
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 18,462 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kimbot


    Deebles McBeebles wrote: »
    You buy one quadcopter and 3 years later, still quadcopter ads.

    Oh sh*t, I've typed quadcopter 3 times now. It may never end for me.

    Your doomed.......


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    #29
    zapitastas
    Closed Accounts Posts: 498 ✭✭zapitastas


    The person in work is a rat


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    #30
    Chancer3001
    Registered Users Posts: 5,480 ✭✭✭Chancer3001


    Google literally pops up questions to me every day looking for reviews.

    How was supervalu.

    How was supermacs ...tell others what to expect

    It knows exactly where you were


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    #31
    Deebles McBeebles
    Registered Users Posts: 5,754 ✭✭✭Deebles McBeebles


    Kimbot wrote: »
    Your doomed.......

    Hot naked ladies, hot naked ladies, hot naked ladies.

    There. Balance redressed!


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