Comically Inaccurate and Scarily Correct.

Ads are interesting, specifically mobile ads. Sometimes they’re scarily accurate and other times they are comically wrong. Ads are always changing, sometimes they change and become incredibly accurate while other times it’s simply something you would never buy yourself. In this essay, I will explain how “ads” work in this day and age and provide situations where our personal ads would be extremely accurate, and when they would simply be hilariously bad.

As I said, ads are always changing, and there’s a reason for this. Our phones, tablets, and computers all use and collect data constantly. If I’m using my PC and I look something up on Google under a specific email, and then go to my phone and open up a web browser that uses the same email, the searches are there as well. This is why a lot of our ads are heavily influenced by subjects we search across multiple platforms. This also works with social media platforms, if we look at Facebook and Instagram, they’re both owned by the same company. This means our data is transferred and connected between these two apps. If you’re looking at something your grandmother linked you in on Facebook and then see ads for it on Instagram, this is because the two social media platforms share data with one another, and since you looked at it on one app the other app will decide you’re interested in it and will continue to show you ads for said item.

During the holiday seasons, I personally celebrate Christmas, which means during the months of October, November, and December I’m starting to research and buy gifts for my family and for my friends. This means that during this time, my phone is going to be retaining history and search results for gifts I would simply never like or buy. For example, my five-year-old cousin wants a Fortnite plushie, so I go online and find one, I proceed to order it, and now I’m getting ads on Facebook for “The Coolest Fortnite Plushies All At CHEAP Prices here”. I don’t play Fortnite and I’m certainly not planning on buying another Fortnite plushie, but because I looked into it once, certain ads I will be seeing will be pushing me to buy another one. Times like Christmas are when my ads will be comically inaccurate for me.

So if I know when my ads are whole-heartily wrong, do I know when my ads are going to be more accurate? Well, I can’t give a set-in-stone answer but I can certainly take a guess as to when my ads are going to be personally more accurate. For me personally, I know my ads are the most accurate near July since it’s my birthday month, around this time I’m looking into stuff to buy myself as well as finding ideas for people who wish to buy me something for my birthday. I look for gift ideas between Instagram, Amazon, random book sites I enjoy, and random clothing stores. All these sites and apps will be collecting data and sharing it with one another, allowing for my ads to be more accurate for me over the various apps I use.

Although I don’t understand all the specifics on how data usage works, I do understand why during certain months, my ads are more accurate. During the winter holidays, my ads are less accurate because I’m looking for gifts for other people and not for things for myself. This will also happen, less extremely, during birthdays for those in my family and for my friends. However, close to my own birthday, my ads will be more accurate for me. I won’t be getting ads for fancy Fortnite plushies, instead, I’ll get ads for clothing I like or bands I like, which is much more favorable in my opinion.

“Social Media Tools” by jrhode is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0