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

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Okaaaaay... That's interesting. I have them completely fooled because they think I'm male. :)

Otherwise, it's fair enough, they have my age as 55-64 and I'm right in the middle of that range. They have me down as interested in print and publishing, fibre arts and knitting, walking and running. But no mention of photography though!

[dadi.livejournal.com]

well, for me they got it totally wrong :D. For them, I am a 25-34 y old male, while I am a 47 y old woman. They only mention the social media and tech interests, while I am sure that I am using google and clicking on ads for totally different stuff too. No idea why that happens. Discussing this over there at google+, there were a lot of us over 40 women whom google pegged at under 35 and male :D

[cluegirl.livejournal.com]

There's a Canadian band called Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie (yes, I know,) who do a song called (I believe,) the Internet Privacy song. In it, they advocate openly lying whenever any online entity requests any data at all regarding your demographics. The line in question is, I believe, "If we bury them in bullshit, the system may explode!"

I find myself enjoying doing exactly that kind of thing any time a site asks for my age, income level, number of children, or gender.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

They think I'm 25-34 and they're right! Ha!

Well, I've said for a while I think I will always "see" myself as being in my early 30s.

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

where does it say your age? I can't see it on the google ad preferences thingy.

[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 :-)

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Says I'm male, with an interest in politics, and nothing else is correct. This pleases me.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

It has my age correctly, but it thinks that I'm interested in shopping for clothes - I hardly ever buy clothes, and, when I do, it's mostly in charity shops -