Monday, June 05, 2017

T.F.T.W #3

Interconnectedness and internet advertising; the future is now…

The other day I was out and about with Lisa, running some errands. I used the maps application on my phone to search for directions to a golf store, as it wasn’t somewhere that we regularly go. (or receive advertising for)

The very next day - an advertisement for that same golf store wound its way onto the browser of my ipad…

Just to clarify, I didn’t exactly “search” for golf stuff (at least not in the browser)… so the ‘maps’ program must have sent some data to a server, which made a note I was investigating directions to a specific place. This data was then converted into an advertisement for that same place, which was then forced in front of my eyeballs - on a completely different device....

Random parts of your life that you might not have expected to be connected, are now inexorably intertwined…

good luck navigating your lives people!

P.S.
I’m not exactly some hippy-dippy anti-technology guy, I totally understand that any benefits to using technology must come with assumed ‘costs’ that help it’s magical powers.

I just find it funny that somewhere, some computer server now thinks that:
a) I like golf,
b) I'm not soooo into golf that I automatically know how to get to the store,
c) I would like a 10% discount to go back in the next two months…

It’s a little ‘tail-wagging-the-dog’ for my liking, but I’m sure that some advertising guru will be able to prove (down to several decimal points) that this targeted advertising ‘synergy’ is more effective than, say - a TV/radio Ad, or mail-outs, or direct-dialing, or newspapers, or… you get the point. :)

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