We have all thought about it. How can we discuss something with a friend and a few hours later see an ad on Facebook that advertises exactly that?
The first and perhaps most simplistic thought is that Facebook eavesdrops on what we say. It catches keywords and then advertises products related to what we discussed.
However, the truth is not so simple. Let's start with the basics: No Facebook does not eavesdrop on us…
Yes he knows what we are talking about and yes his ads are. Terribly personalized. But the reason is different.
He does not need to watch us
The hard truth is that Facebook does not need to do technical miracles to track you. He already has far better ways to do it than eavesdrop on you, explains Antonio Garcia Martinez, author and tech entrepreneur of the New York Times bestseller.
"It is not every frighteningly accurate advertisement that you see as a clear result of your cognitive prejudices. Remember that Facebook can find you on any device you have ever checked into Facebook. It can take advantage of everything retailers know about you, and sometimes even track your in-store purchases, only in cash.
So, you might claim that Facebook must have overheard your private conversation yesterday about a friend's wedding and then served you a wedding costume ad, without you searching for something related to the wedding on google for years .
How does συνέχεια constantly fall in?
But there are dozens of other data points that the system has for you to determine what you should see at any given time. The system not only knows exactly where you are at all times, but also who your friends are, what they are interested in and with whom you spend time.
It can track you on all your devices, record call and text metadata on Android phones, and even track you write something that you end up deleting and never actually sending.
The profound consequence of all this is that the rich "data vein" that is constantly being collected can be utilized by an algorithm to actually predict what you and your friends are discussing and to serve you an ad that is perfectly tailored to your current needs.
While these Facebook ad algorithms are not nearly perfect (try to notice how often you are served ads that are completely irrelevant to your interests), the mere fact that they are so creepily correct, even sometimes, is the real conspiracy here .
It is almost impossible for a human mind to understand how these complex algorithms work. The way they process huge volumes of personal data to decide that now is the right time to run a particular ad is probably beyond the comprehension of even the engineers who design the algorithms.
In many ways, it makes sense for so many people to still believe in the microphone conspiracy. It is much easier to understand how Facebook presented this prophetic ad to you if we imagine that it simply overheard the conversation you had yesterday with your friends.
But as with many things in life, the truth happens to be much more complicated and much more disturbing.
Source: in.gr