Targeted Ads

[poliphilo]

Read the comments to this article  (thanks to wyrmwwd for the link) and it seems the Google bots regularly guess people are older than they are. For the record they think I'm 65+.

I suppose my recent activity (related to the weekend break) is what has them convinced I have a particular interest in Yorkshire. 

Why do they think I'm sold on "royalty"? Do I really spend so much of my time digging the dirt on Prince Charles? 

I'm glad they're a little off centre. We all like to think we can fool the system. 

Do I ever click on the targeted ads they place in my way? No. I have strict rules about that sort of thing. 

Am I being influenced subliminally? I don't think so, but...

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I tried this at work and at home.

At work, Google thinks I'm 35-44 (which is pretty good - I'm 42).

At home, Google thinks I'm 18-24.

This amuses me greatly.

In fact, I'm going to post about it :-)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You're two different people. That's cool.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Aren't we all, at times?

I never quite trust someone who claims that they're the same person no matter what the circumstance. I'm not sure if they're lying or just delusional.

http://poliphilo.livejournal.com/965502.html?replyto=11542654

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I agree. Personality is a construct. We're all actors. And we vary our self-presentation according to context and audience.

Re: http://poliphilo.livejournal.com/965502.html?replyto=11542654

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

It's even possible, I suppose, that being in the company of a friend emphasizes the similarities - or differences - in self-presentation.
I sometimes conceal an interest in common,in a rather eccentric passion for independence.
On the other hand, some of my friends were accused of being the same person, because they were using the same computer, and had a similar vocabulary, reading, and work pattern - as you do when you're friends.
We laughed a good deal when we noticed that the people making the accusation used a very distinctive shared vocabulary/jargon -

Re: http://poliphilo.livejournal.com/965502.html?replyto=11542654

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe people who live and work together develop a "group mind". You see it in everything from the lock-step thinking of political apparatchiks to the unanimity of married couples who complete one another's sentences.