"You pop open YouTube, and seconds into the video, an ad about your favorite chocolate brand shows up out of the blue. And you feel a bit of a chill since you were just talking about your sudden craving for that exact brand and type of chocolate. Well, it turns out that it can be like that. Information you enter online and through apps can be used to collect data such as your interests, hobbies, and simple search queries."
"It almost feels like they come up right after you've had real conversations about their products. This can happen for various reasons, one being search queries. You could have talked to your family about a want or a craving, and they might have looked it up online to see if it was in stock, or you've subconsciously checked the topic through an app or browsed online."
Online activity and app interactions create a broad digital footprint that collects interests, hobbies, and search queries used for ad targeting. Targeted ads often appear with uncanny timing after related conversations because of searches, family members looking up items, subconscious app activity, or social-media interactions by friends. Ad targeting can use social connections, causing ads based on others' likes or interactions. Google services and Android use account sign-ins that centralize user data across devices and apps, increasing the reach of targeted advertising. Users must sign out or adjust ad-targeting settings to reduce personalized ads.
Read at BGR
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