Targeted Ads -- How Do They Know?

[Wulf202]

I've seen it happen with a new phone. We purposely had a conversation in front of it and immediately got ads. We did this 3 or 4 different times

[Skip]

how did you pay? do you have a store loyalty card?

Yes! Connected to my wife's phone number.

How does that know my IP/accounts? And why target me after the sale?

Another spooky thing just happened... Kiddo and friend asked for chicken/fries for dinner. BOOM - Tyson's chicken ads. No purchase on this one.

[roberth]

Throwing this out there to see if anyone else has had this experience or ideas on how this is happening.

Dairy Queen -- I told a story here about Dairy Queen being out of ice cream. Google toolbar is installed in browser. I was immediately served with DQ ads.

Toothpaste -- I had a cleaning appointment today, very nice young (pretty) hygienist was giving me advice and recommended a specific kind of toothpaste. I had only my phone with me and used Notes to note the name (although I had misspelled it as is my custom [GMan!!!!]). Went to Kings on the way home and bought it. Come home and am served ads for it.


How is this happening?!?

Best I can figure is Google is sending this info via browsers/toolbars. But I can't explain the toothpaste. Did my iPhone X spy on that convo? It would have had to use the microphone and be able to interpret the brand name (not common).

You're correct.

It is their business to know your online footprint, your purchasing trends / history, your current search pattern, and your search history, and all kinds of other metrics.

The search engines and Microsoft and Apple (among others) sell this information to retailers and websites, and they use it themselves in the hopes you'll click on the adverts they place on the websites you're browsing. Google Analytics is one example of a data gathering service. They also know that Americans are impulse buyers with credit cards, if they can present adverts very quickly after your initial searches they stand a good chance of getting paid for that sale directly, or if you go to a brick-and-mortar they still get paid, indirectly but less $$.

Now think about the size and speed of the database they're using, and then think about the network size and speed, and the server farms size and speed of those servers because they're doing this to billions of people every second of single day. The algorithms are incredible.

[ChickNorris]

All I ever really search for online is: girly shoes & clothing - ammo, firearms & related gear - porn.

I only turn on my location when: I'm going to firearm related activities or stores, an airport, or to government buildings.

I prefer to use cash for purchases.

I offer very few data points & anymore they don't need my expressed permissions to access my mic or much of anything else on my phone, card(s) etc. They have access to it already.


Just is.

[Zundfolge]

Its actually kinda scary. All the data trails you create feed various AIs that are able to predict with a surprising degree of accuracy what you'll do next.

[Irving]

Do you guys get the monthly emails from Google showing where you've been?

[Aloha_Shooter]

You think they improved speech-to-text-to-data processing because they want to help you play music? Google makes its money by selling data. Use their search engine? KA-CHING!

Use a browser they can data-mine by installing a "tool" to copy your data stream? KA-CHING!

Use their "free" mail server so your email passes through their server? KA-CHING!

I use an Android smartphone because I prefer the ecosystem and dislike iOS but I try to minimize my interaction with Google otherwise. Don't use Chrome, don't use their search engine, don't use gmail. I wish YouTube was still independent; while I use Vimeo over YouTube when I can, the fact of the matter is that a number of the producers I like to follow are on YouTube.

When it comes to Apple vs. Google, think about this. Apple makes its money by selling consumers overpriced stylish electronics and selling vendors a place in their iOS ecosystem. Google makes everything "free" to attract a large customer base then sells their information to get cash flow.

[Gman]

Do you ever use your phone on your home WiFi?

The traffic for all of your devices is sharing the same public IP address from your ISP. Google and the like can then correlate all of your devices to YOU. If you look for something on your phone away from home, they already know who you are and will feed you the same marketing on your devices at home.

Many of our devices are listening to what's around us, and there are little programs that take what they hear and feed it to back-end systems. There is even cross communication between devices using inaudible communication.

This is from 2015 - Beware of ads that use inaudible sound to link your phone, TV, tablet, and PC

The adage is, If you're getting something for free, YOU are the product.

[TEAMRICO]

Big busty single blondes in my area....go on google do your thang!!!!!

[APEXgunparts]

You are experiencing "Behavioral Marketing", look up that term in GOOGLE and read the explanations.
Their are companies that will do this service for E-Commerce retailers.
UNLESS the product you sell is firearms or related products!
"MULTIVIEW" will sell you this service, but finds very limited places it can advertise your firearms related products.
So you pay full price for limited access to consumers.
It can be very effective, which is why the advertising industry won't let firearms related items get promoted.

Richard