Ask HN: Is anyone monitoring popular apps to check if they're listening?

Re:Ask HN: Is anyone monitoring popular apps to check if the... by giansegato on Sunday September 19, 2021 @11:24AM (#28585030)

It's not only a matter of "big numbers", but also of confirmation bias.

We're never paying any attention to irrelevant ads - we're ad blind to them. But the moment we see a very relevant ad to a recent conversation, that will inevitably pop up.

"See, this one ad is tied to this conversation I had yesterday: they must be listening", while in reality it's more like "See, this one ad out of 100s I've seen in the last day is tied to this one conversation out of 10s I had in the last day".

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Re:Ask HN: Is anyone monitoring popular apps to check if the... by MrDunham on Sunday September 19, 2021 @11:54AM (#28585331)

This is correct. We even have a brain circuit for this: the reticulating activating system.

It's the reason I hadn't seen a Volvo for over 10 years until I mentioned that fact, then saw three that day.

So to your point, the RAS filters out/ignores 99 ads but will bring to your attention the one that is similar to something you've mentioned recently.

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Re:Ask HN: Is anyone monitoring popular apps to check if the... by tompazourek on Sunday September 19, 2021 @02:18PM (#28586592)

I also have one more theory which is that this effect can be caused by the network aspect of Facebook. Maybe I haven't been interested in a specific topic, but one of my friends was. And Facebook is serving me ads because they were relevant for my friends so they might be relevant to me. And the conversations where I heard about a topic are a consequence of that same thing -- one of my friends is interested in a certain topic.

I don't know how valid it is though. But it could contribute to the whole thing I guess...

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