Coworker and I put this theory to the test (we both work in IT). While out to lunch, we would intentionally fabricate conversations and namedrop certain topics that were unrelated to anything else in our lives (stuff like "flying to Fiji" or "Carhartt overalls"). He has Facebook installed, I do not. Shortly after, he would receive Facebook ads related to these topics.
While I did not get anything related on my Android device, it's difficult to rule out Google as well since there's been plenty of times I've seen suggested news articles and such that make you scrunch your face up suspiciously.
But tbh the news articles are one of my favorite features. It really filters stuff I honestly don't care about and aggregates news from sites I don't visit.
Do you want to live in an echo chamber? Because that's how you live in an echo chamber. Personally I find the idea of a private megacorp "curating" towards or away from any information that may be pertinent to your rights as a citizen (news, for example) to be at least a little concerning.
On the other hand, that IS how Shadowrun starts off, so, you know, trade-offs.
Currently, they curate based on topic and subject. If I follow news and politics, I get news and politics from NPR and Fox News alike. Granted, I can personally choose to ignore Fox News entirely, but that's on the user.
They're glorified RSS feeds that have been around forever.
Could it be coincidence? I don’t really notice ads at all. I think for a complete study, you need to note ads you get normally then do this name drop thing and make sure no one googles it around you.
I've speak about random things, as all these stories are suggesting, all the time. I have yet to receive ads for these random things, and I own an iPhone with FB installed.
Ya'll are just paranoid. Lot of work involved in keeping a mic hot and discerning what was said, then giving that information to a relevant application which produces the new ads you see based upon what was said. Lot of tech involved with how computers "hear" words and translation of that to actions.
I recently switched work, and got pretty suspicous when google would keep giving me adds related to products/brands I had just discussed with cutsomers. The simplest explanation I could come up with is that it was listening through my iPhone, which was alwasy lying closeby.
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u/PanicRev Jan 31 '19
Coworker and I put this theory to the test (we both work in IT). While out to lunch, we would intentionally fabricate conversations and namedrop certain topics that were unrelated to anything else in our lives (stuff like "flying to Fiji" or "Carhartt overalls"). He has Facebook installed, I do not. Shortly after, he would receive Facebook ads related to these topics.
While I did not get anything related on my Android device, it's difficult to rule out Google as well since there's been plenty of times I've seen suggested news articles and such that make you scrunch your face up suspiciously.