
Ask HN: Can we find out why a specific ad appears in our Facebook feed? - lampzzy
Last week I went to a restaurant with some friends and while checking the menu we saw that there was a cocktail with Campari (alcoholic liqueur) - this triggered a 30 sec conversation about the drink. Following day I open my FB feed and something weird happened - there was a Campari ad just in front of me! In the last months of my online life I didn&#x27;t search for Campari, cocktails, beverages or anything related so I think it would be great if there was a way of finding why that ad end up there!
======
lazzlazzlazz
"Facebook does not use your phone's microphone for ads or News Feed stories."

[http://newsroom.fb.com/news/h/facebook-does-not-use-your-
pho...](http://newsroom.fb.com/news/h/facebook-does-not-use-your-phones-
microphone-for-ads-or-news-feed-stories/)

The phenomenon you're observing is due to various interesting human
psychological quirks, such as priming effects.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_\(psychology\))

~~~
rawnlq
Frequency illusion or Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is probably a better term to
search for:
[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion)

But I don't think it's chance here. I think the facebook app has location
access and if so they are definitely using it (e.g., the place might be
popular for campari, your mutual friend appearing at the same location
might've searched/wrote about it, etc).

For example google is pretty good with pinpointing exactly which restaurant I
went to:
[https://www.google.com/maps/timeline](https://www.google.com/maps/timeline)

~~~
bshimmin
Chance is a funny thing.

I was once reading _Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72_ by Hunter S.
Thompson (which I can heartily recommend) - not an especially obscure book,
but certainly not his most famous. I was a student, and I was lying on my bed
reading this book, whilst listening to some music. This was about 2000, and I
guess I was a relatively early adopter of online streaming music: I'd selected
some random electro music station to listen to. I'm reading my book and
listening to some moderately uninteresting electro when a sample in the music
piques my interest - I recognise the voice! It's Hunter S. Thompson. I think,
"That's a funny coincidence, given what I'm reading..." Then I listen a bit
harder and I realise he's talking about Nixon (or McGovern, I forget). I
realise he's reading from the very book I'm reading - and yet, it seems even
more familiar than that, like I've just read these very words... I glance down
at my book and realise he is, in fact, reading the start of the very paragraph
I'd just, seconds ago, finished.

I wasn't on drugs and I haven't embellished this story over the years, it
really did happen just like this. Just a lot of chance, right?

------
LSCanaan
I can relate and you won't believe it. Last Sunday I was at a cocktail bar and
while checking the menu with a friend I had the exact same short conversation
about Campari, prompted by wanting to know what's in a Negroni.

There's a phenomenon that explains this kind of illusion as a psychological
effect, called the Baader-Meinhof complex. Coincidentally later that night we
mentioned it too. It's basically a trick our brains play on us partly
explained by the psychological processing of information, selective attention
and confirmation bias.

Or maybe Facebook is spying on me, on you, and Hacker News too.

~~~
J-dawg
To what extent does Facebook allow its advertising clients to target users
based on location? Down to the level of individual buildings (e.g. a bar)?

Is it possible that Campari could be running a campaign targeting people who
recently visited bars that serve Campari? Or even simply people who recently
visited a bar?

~~~
icebraining
They can target based on "Behaviours", so, maybe?
[https://www.facebook.com/business/a/online-sales/ad-
targetin...](https://www.facebook.com/business/a/online-sales/ad-targeting-
details#Behaviors)

EDIT: The "Behaviour" targets can even drill down to specific types of alcohol
beverages (beer, wine, other). Not sure that means specifically having visited
a bar.

~~~
sharemywin
if any of your friends liked the wine or visited a site and the vendor had a
look-a-like audience selected.

or maybe it uses voice recognition to target users "interests"

------
kimburgess
I've had similar experiences. One in particular: I had a private, in-person
conversation with a work colleague about a very niche company that until that
point I'd never heard of. He does not use Facebook. Advertising profiles may
have been connected from other services, but no way to connect directly due to
any proximity / micro-location service.

After that conversation and without me searching for anything further relating
to that subject I began being targeted with ads for the same company.

When that popped up I deleted Facebook from all personal devices. It may have
been co-incidental, but there have been to many other similar situations that
have made me question the validity of their official statements.

------
amelius
Here's a theory: after your conversation with your friends, one of your
friends checked out the Campari product on the web, and from there FB deduced
that you might also be interested.

~~~
amelius
And here's another theory: you _were already targeted_ by the Campari ad
before, but you were not consciously aware of it. This triggered the
conversation with your friends.

~~~
akerro
Facebook knew he was interested in Campari, so they put Campari on menu in his
local restaurant? That's smart!

~~~
onion2k
That's amusing, but at the same time it _could_ make an excellent business
idea - restaurants could tailor their menu based on the preferences of people
who're booked to eat there. If you knew that a group of people who all really
like sea bass are arriving at 6pm a restaurant could put a high-profit sea
bass special on the menu knowing that those people are likely to order it. The
customers are happier because they get their preferred dishes and the
restaurant is happy because it makes them more money.

~~~
thatwebdude
They could also change the pricing. Because they know you'll be more
interested to try an expensive steak ($3 more than your neighbor pays).

You'll also find that same steak tastes better now.

------
heldrida
I wonder the same too; I get a lot of weird stuff, that I talked about, but
have NOT put down in text messages, emails, etc. I took some screenshots, to
prove it and share with friends later. I end up doing some research and
apparently is not related from voice/keywords. Officially addressed in the
following link: [http://newsroom.fb.com/news/h/facebook-does-not-use-your-
pho...](http://newsroom.fb.com/news/h/facebook-does-not-use-your-phones-
microphone-for-ads-or-news-feed-stories/)

Other references: [http://marketingland.com/no-what-facebook-hears-on-your-
phon...](http://marketingland.com/no-what-facebook-hears-on-your-phone-isnt-
triggering-ads-146057)
[http://www.computerworld.com/article/3079412/security/facebo...](http://www.computerworld.com/article/3079412/security/facebook-
advertising-microphone-itbwcw.html)

------
lxchase
I'm surprised no one mentioned 3rd party audience lists. It's more than likely
in this case you used your credit card at the restaurant and this data was
passed to a data service like DLX or Neustar, which Campari will pay a fee to
get audience lists such as: Datalogix » DLX CPG » Alcohol Beverage Buyers »
Spirits or AdAdvisor Audiences powered by Neustar » AdAdvisor Consumer
Audiences » Alcohol (Restricted to Best Practices) » Consumption Location »
Liquor-Where Consumed-Restaurant

As to why Campari specifically, that could just be a coincidence. Have you
seen other alcohol ads lately?

~~~
lampzzy
I didn't pay the bill but we arranged the lunch via FB MSN so easy to
correlate I guess.

Haven't seen any alcohol related ads lately.

------
smnscu
Related to privacy, I just found out that Google has detailed data about
everywhere I go, because it's tracked by default by Android phones. Check
yours here if you haven't (and maybe turn it off):
[https://www.google.com/maps/timeline](https://www.google.com/maps/timeline)

~~~
accountface
This is an interesting feature that Google doesn't seem to really talk about —
it will also list where you took photos, tell you which businesses you've been
to, and even go as far to guess your mode of transportation (in the city it'll
go as far as guessing bus/train/car/bike with some accuracy).

And there's that typical double-edged sword: there are a lot of situations
where I'd find this information really useful... but in order to gain that
usefulness Google knows all that information too.

------
cm2012
Press "x" on the ad. There's an option to see how you're being targeted.

~~~
thatwebdude
It's a dropdown arrow for me, but yes this gives a pretty good example of why
you were targeted if you select the link asking "Why am I seeing this ad?" (Or
something like that phrase)

------
sigi45
voice is not realistic in any scenario. Amazon echo or google doesn't
understand everything, wide range microphone recording can't go unnoticed, the
apps don't have access to it.

You are just one of Billion Facebook users, those numbers are high enough to
have coincidences.

~~~
xherberta
Many apps do have access to microphone, don't they?

Voice recognition may not be good enough to transcribe the whole convo, but it
would be sufficient to pick up repeated instances of "campari."

op: Is it possible something was said to accidentally trigger a search, like
"Oh, que goo gel, blah-blah campari?" or "Way searing..."

------
laurent123456
Maybe you didn't search for Campari, but perhaps a significant number of
people going to this restaurant also notice this cocktail (maybe it's
presented more prominently?) and google it. Maybe this topic also comes up
more frequently within group of friends of a certain age, etc. So for FB, This
restaurant + group of friends = show a Campari ad.

------
xparadigm
I meet a girl. She had a smartphone in which she had the Facebook app
installed. I had a iPod which had a Facebook app installed too. But there was
no wifi in the place we met. And my location services are always off in my
device. I come home, and Facebook shows her as "People you may know." I had 32
mutual friends with her. So I let it go thinking it might be a coincidence.

Few days later, I meet a guy. Don't know if he had a smartphone or not. But I
had my iPod. And there was no wifi. Location services are off. I come home. I
see that guy as "People you may know." This time I had 2 mutual friends with
him. Coincidence?

~~~
paulcole
>Coincidence?

No, but not the conspiracy theory you are imagining. It's my understanding
that if Person A searches for Person B they are likely to show on Person B's
list of people you may know.

Also just to clarify, how many times have you looked at the people you may now
list and not seen someone you recently met?

~~~
xparadigm
That makes sense!

------
nkrisc
Not directly related, but tangential anecdote:

I was visiting another state and while there I decided to check out a local,
independent book seller. While browsing I found a very interesting and niche
book a had never heard of about the linguistic and archaeological history of
the proto-Indo-European language and the people who spoke it. I purchased it
with cash. Perhaps a week later, the book was suggested to me by Amazon. Of
course I had already bought it, but I took it as an example of how accurate
their recommendation algorithm could be.

For anyone interested, the book was The Horse, The Wheel and Language.

~~~
sharemywin
sure it wasn't The Catcher in the Rye?

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118883/synopsis](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118883/synopsis)

:)

------
elzed
If you want to know what Facebook thinks about you, visit this page while
logged in
[https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences](https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences).
FB profiled you using tons of internal data (your page like, activities, etc)
and external data (bought from Epsilon, Acxiom, etc). There is a good chance
Facebook already know about your habit and your choice of drinks even before
you visit the restaurant.

------
627467
I suspect it is Campari season and they are just pushing their ads around this
time of the year. I also have been "spammed" with Campari ads on YouTube for
no apparent reason. I don't like it. Never searched for it. But live in a
country where campari-orange is a staple night-out drink.

(Edit) to complete my 'theory': Campari has been advertising a lot, including
pushing its use in bars/restaurants and pushing ads online, increasing
likelyhood of that coincidence to happen.

~~~
throwaway_374
Seconded, you are just selecting for your own bias. Facebook knew you were at
a bar. Campari happened to be pushing ads. You noticed the ad and probably
disregarded other bar-related ads.

------
christocracy
Perhaps you're not the only ones at this restaurant to notice and discuss this
same cocktail, such that Facebook has learned of a "Campari thing" from others
before you?

I assume FB would have learned several friends have joined together in the
same location.

------
axew3
A case, or you had an app in background ... that recognize the voice and send
data ... well it could be more near to reality than you maybe can imagine ...
i'm impressed by the way, on how users install apps of any kind on their
smartphone ... they really ignore how many data are transferred in background
... one day, or also right now, also the voice ... same users, often may are
complaining that his phone credit get critical, and they do not know why! :)

------
00deadbeef
I went on Facebook yesterday and there was an ad from a retailer I used once
ages ago that said, "We noticed you haven't shopped with us for a while, blah
blah, here's a special offer". I use uBlock and have Pi-hole blocking stuff
like this at the DNS level, so how have they been able to connect my accounts
in such a way the retailer can target me? They even use different email
addresses.

~~~
marcusgarvey
Credit card purchase data? FB ads offer a way to target based on info from
Experian, et al.

------
wirddin
Something similar happened with me. I don't have Facebook's app but I use
Messenger (location - allowed), So I'm guessing this is location based. You
went inside a restaurant, spent time there. And Campari turned out to be a hot
selling thing for restaurants.

------
tmaly
I remember a post on here last year about Facebook suggesting patients of a
psychologist as friends. It did this by location. Perhaps you or one of your
friends had a facebook app on their phone with the location information turned
on?

------
eugenez
Every Facebook ad has a dropdown in the top right corner, and one of the
options is "Why am I seeing this ad?". It will show you details on that ad's
targeting and why you are seeing it.

------
axew3
A case, or you had an app in background ... that recognize the voice and send
data ... well it could be more near to reality than you maybe can imagine ...
this can be SO real, but rue or not, i'm impressed by the way, on how users
install apps of any kind on their smartphone ... they really ignore how many
data are transferred in background ... one day, or also right now, also the
voice ... same users, often may are complaining that his phone credit get
critical, and they do not know why!

~~~
mercer
Are you okay?

------
spoiledtechie
Its a well known fact Facebook stays open on your phone even after you close
it. Gps and your bar seem to have told Facebook to serve you an ad. Crazy that
Facebook can do this, I can only imagine what the govt agencies do with this
data.

------
coldpie
People see ads on the Internet? Huh.

