Facebook

[bobAlike]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28157889

Do things like this bother you? Should we be bothered?

The more I think about social media the more I get concerned about the future. I went shopping to a garden centre last weekend and paid by credit card, 2 days later Facebook suggested the same garden centre as a friend. This garden centre is not friends with any of my friends and I'm not aware that anyone liked their fb page. Do companies such as the garden centre supply info to Fb or is it the credit card companies?

I went to a Christening on the same weekend and was introduced to someone I had never met before and had not even known of their existence, that very evening this person was suggested as a friend. I know this happened because she would have been tagged in some photos from the Christening by some of my friends.

Now, I've never been one for conspiracy theories and definitely never one who was paranoid about big brother watching us blah, blah, blah but the social media companies hold so much info on us, and after all information is king, it's starting to play on my mind and I'm actually more concerned by this than by what the government knows about us.

[RED-DOG]

Yes we should be worried.

No. I do not have a Facebook account.

Yes. I do have a tinfoil hat.

[nirvana]

It feels a bit perturbing but my imagination hasn't yet run to anything more sinister than I'm going to be served a lot of pointless ads.

Increasing pet hate is to visit somewhere like laterooms.com (always for a specific reason) and then be served their ads for days - er, I already know about you.

[bobAlike]

Yes we should be worried.

No. I do not have a Facebook account.

Yes. I do have a tinfoil hat.

I still use my mums collender bit more breathable.

[bobAlike]

It feels a bit perturbing but my imagination hasn't yet run to anything more sinister than I'm going to be served a lot of pointless ads.

Increasing pet hate is to visit somewhere like laterooms.com (always for a specific reason) and then be served their ads for days - er, I already know about you.

I'm probably just a bit ahead of you there. The adverts are annoying but it's when you couple it all together Glenn with the mind games they can and evidently do play.

[mulhuzz]

Just FYI there's no link between paying by credit card somewhere and being served their ads.

There may be other reasons you've been served the ad, but v v likely this is just the availability heuristic causing you to see something that isn't there.

People have this idea that online marketing is this super secret black box affair which is super super sophisticated - think Bourne Identity and Minority Report - but the reality is a lot simpler, more like Johnny English.

[bobAlike]

Lol, like comparison. Having had a good think about it I have come to the conclusion that it's probably due to location information.

I do however think you're being a bit dismissive of the complexity of online marketing. These social media sites, search engines and such like invest millions if not billions on research and development on how they can control us all into generating income. Look how Facebook shares took a huge tumble when they were released mainly because investors were worried about how users were using mobile devices to access Facebook and the delivery of adverts was not working as good as it should have been. 12 months later mobile ads all over the place on Fb and the share price rockets.

[kinboshi]

Andrew, did you visit the garden centre's website at all, pretty or post going there?

If so, that's your answer. If you use facebook on your computer, and you stay logged in to Facebook, they effectively know every website you visit. Same goes for Google.

They don't actually know that Andrew Psaras did this and that, but they know that a particular visitor using that browser visited certain sites and then they use this information to show you ads. Some of these ads will be the actual sites you've visited and can show products you've actually looked at on the sites, other ads will be related to what you've looked at. So, for example, if you visited a football-related site (or on facebook you've mentioned football, or engaged someone posting about the World Cup, then you might see ads related to football.

This remarketing is extremely powerful for advertisers, who often use it to target people who've abandoned shopping baskets on sites, etc., and try to get you back to finish off the purchase.

[bobAlike]

Hi Kin, nope never visited the garden centre website and it's an independent one as far as I know. I get the link you're making. What do you think about the experiment Fb performed?

[celtic]

I think it's all fine and too many people take themselves and life too seriously.

[RED-DOG]

I think it's all fine and too many people take themselves and life too seriously.

Freedom and privacy are serious issues.

[celtic]

I think it's all fine and too many people take themselves and life too seriously.

Freedom and privacy are serious issues.

Of course they are, but if you post on social network/forums etc, then you waive your right to all that. If the spies want to know that I have had 36 nandos recently and not paid for one of them, then I really don't care.

[claypole]

I think it's all fine and too many people take themselves and life too seriously.

Freedom and privacy are serious issues.

Of course they are, but if you post on social network/forums etc, then you waive your right to all that. If the spies want to know that I have had 36 nandos recently and not paid for one of them, then I really don't care.

Agree, every time I go for dinner with you I get an inviation to join Nandos privilige club and a increase on the Amex credit card limit

[celtic]

I think it's all fine and too many people take themselves and life too seriously.

Freedom and privacy are serious issues.

Of course they are, but if you post on social network/forums etc, then you waive your right to all that. If the spies want to know that I have had 36 nandos recently and not paid for one of them, then I really don't care.

Agree, every time I go for dinner with you I get an inviation to join Nandos privilige club and a increase on the Amex credit card limit

[celtic]

Could also be that someone you know has been to the garden centre, and liked their page? Therefore it would come up as a suggestion for you?