How TF did Facebook know this?

[SheWranglesRugRats]

This afternoon I was browsing at my library and picked up a random book from the donations shelf by an author I'd never heard of. Not a topic I'm interested in particularly. It didn't appeal, so I put it back down. This evening, FB has given me an advert for the exact same edition of the random book, published quarter of a century ago. Given that there are about a million books published a year, that's a one in 25 million chance. How TF did creepy FB know what book I'd picked up?

I can’t remember what it was with me but there was something equally implausible and the only explanation I have is that my phone does listen to me / watch me.

I also remember seeing an advert for something I liked on Facebook and then I couldn’t find it again. I googled whether Facebook could hear me chatting and the answer seemed to be no but anyway I spoke to myself out loud about the item I was looking for and yep, the advert came back again.

Saying that however, sometimes you get targeted by adverts that are SO wrong for you that they’re definitely not mind reading yet!

Denim might not be much of a barrier but it had to go all the way through my fat arse too!

Out of interest, what phone are you guys using?

These things don't happen to me other than adverts for things I have purchased using my phone (clothing stores).

I do have an old (4yo?) android phone. (Also I tend to leave it in my bag rather than carry it on my person which might be a factor).

I do encounter non-phone-related coincidences in my life quite frequently tho.

Anyone watched The Social Dilemna on Netflix?

It’s quite an eye opener..

My partners phone showed him an advert for two outfits on a clothing company as I was literally asking him if he could buy them me whilst I showed him on my phone. He literally scrolled down on his phone as I was asking him and bam the advert for the exact two things was there with the clothing brand company. Really freaked us out

DH recently bought a new offie chair. We’d discussed buying a new chair a couple of times so I wasn’t surprised when I got an advert for chairs pop up on Facebook. What was weird was that the advert was for the exact chair from the exact company DH bought it from which had definitely not been talked about.

I figure our phones know we live together or some
Other woo shit.

I hope DH doesn’t get FB adds for all the random crap I google!

My phone scans library books. If I'm reading a library book and it's in my pocket, it registers it. Or if the book is in my bag and the phone in my hand.

Confirmation bias. You get hundreds/thousands of ads that you dont think much of, but one that correlates to something unusual will stick in your mind.

I'm not convinced on phones/Alexas listening and giving you ads either. My phone cant even interpret "call mum" correctly so I'd be impressed it listened to my conversations and sent me related adverts!

But yes for pp phones do know if you are using the same wifi and adverts can be targeted based on that. Also facebook knows who your friends are, so if for example a lot of your friends are liking, say, sportswear companies, you'll probably get a lot of ads for sportswear and gyms.

I have an ad blocker browser.
Right now, on my phone I have a pop up notice saying "You are seeing this message because and or script blocking software is interfering with this page. Disable angry ador script blocking software, then reload this page."
Well no, I'm not going to do that because I don't want ads popping up!

^any ad or script...

I used to have this a lot. Was really weird. Came off Facebook a few months back and I haven't had anything pop up on Google since

Me and my husband had been talking about a particular band and listening to their songs on YouTube we also mentioned another artist a few times.
Their songs then started being played on the radio frequently when they had hardly ever been played before ( not popular bands now) freaked me out!!

RiftGibbon, I quite like the idea of 'angry software'

Could your phone have detected the rfid tag on the book?

I was once talking to a friend on my mobile. We talked about something very obscure which wouldn't be a typical topic. After the phonecall an ad showed up with what we were talking about.

I've tested it a few times, picking random, obscure things to talk about and it happens every time.

Not buying confirmation bias. This was not a recent book, there is absolutely no reason FB would pick a random 25 year old book to advertise to me for some reason. The book didn’t have a library tag, it was on the donations shelf not an official library book. I can only think it somehow scanned it from my pocket, but then why doesn’t it (An old and crappy iPhone) scan the books I have at home ?

A couple of weeks ago my fb had nothing but adverts for googly eyes. I have no interest in them or ever using them so no idea why they were all I saw for a whole day.

I figure our phones know we live together or some
Other woo shit.

Yes we have this too. I get adverts for things my DH has been looking at and he gets adverts for things I’ve been looking at.
I noticed it on the iPad the other day - linked to his Apple ID - but adverts clearly tailored to me popping up.
I guess we are on the same wi-fi..

Not sure about the listening bit but in your Facebook settings,there's an 'off Facebook activity' option.
If you don't turn this off,they can see what you are searching for on your phone and googling.
Turning that off stopped me getting ads about things I'd searched for.

They can't scan books from your pocket.

They can used near field communication for paying for things, but unless a book was tagged a phone would need a direct line of sight from camera to barcode or cover as those mechanisms are based on light not other electromagnetic radiation.

I would suggest coincidence or it being a book it might estimate you'd like from audible, library apps, browsing, your age, Amazon etc.

I agree it's weird though.

It was not a book that would be recommended based on my other reading / browsing.

I’m not a woo person so I am sure there is an explanation but I’m blowed if I know what.

That FB offline tracking is scary! You cant seem to turn it off either? Only delete past history? I might un install FB as a app. Surely it cant track you to that degree if it's just on a web page and you dont have the app?

And people are worried about trace and trace

@Flowersmakemyday

RiftGibbon, I quite like the idea of 'angry software'

It would suit me perfectly!