Random ads are less common these days, as are static ads. The common thing these days is to - based on a user's generated profile, and a user's statistics - target them with specific ads. The most common of the form is Google's ads, which composites search history, gmail history, and other information they gather on you, to deliver you ads related to you. But how smart are these ads? I use to think they were decent at predicting the type of information I'd be interested in. Facebook in particular could simply read into my profile and offer me ads based on the bands I like, the movies I like, etc. But now, it seems these smart ads, are nothing more than "smart" ads.

I've used Amazon a fair bit. And I would bet I'm a user best suited for their algorithms: I always use the same computer to visit Amazon, on a static IP, my account is always logged in, no one else uses the computer, and I've enough purchases through them for them to create a reasonable profile around me.

To wit, some purchase I've made are: Music CDs (all under the ROCK genre), Movie DVDs (all more art-house style films - or, as I call them: filmes), I've purchased electronics such as my laptop, and some peripherals, and some items for my guitar. I've purchased fiction books (all of a similar genre - right now, I've mostly been reading the "classics"), as well as some music books. All in all, I would say that my tastes are very consistent, and bleed into one another. The films (filmes) I watch are similar to the books I read, and the music I listen to is generally similar to those who like the same sorts of movies I do.

That's why I found it extremely curious when I visited Amazon.com yesterday to find these products advertised to me:



Lawn Gnomes?!? Really? The average tech-geek who listens to rock music, watches Wes Anderson movies, most recently purchased a Kafka novel, and may or may not own a guitar is buying Lawn Gnomes? Let me assert here that I am the only one who uses the computer. I know this for a fact. There's nobody sneaking around my back purchasing gardening and lawn paraphenalia. Amazon has decided that my profile fits perfectly with those who have been buying lawn gnomes. I have formed two hypothesies about this oddity:

1) Someone who fits my profile to a T recently purchased an abundant number of lawn gnomes (maybe they're starting their own Lawn Gnome business). Moreover they've purchased so many that they have skewed the results of all others who match my profile, so much so that now I'm being advertised lawn gnomes.

OR

2) Amazon knows more about me, than I know. Taking a second look, those lawn gnomes DO look kind of cool.

But then I thought - maybe Amazon's forgotten some of the defining things in my profile. So I searched some music, browsed some items, added things to my cart, and then removed them. Standard things that define the Alishah Novin experience. And then I refreshed the home page. What I saw floored me.



Unless Amazon has been sneaking into my private day dreams of being a cowboy, or some how has overheard conversations I've had with my friends about how it's been a secret desire of mine to move to Texas and have my own ranch, I have no idea how they could know that I want to be a cowboy. It's not such a secret now, admittedly - but unless Amazon could read into the future to know I would post this article (see: scene from the Matrix where Neo bumps into the vase), they're doing some voodoo work here.

It seems the Facebook "smart" ads are not so smart either these days. I use to get ads about Beatles posters, concert tickets, shirts for The Life Aquatic. Today I saw this ad:



Now, granted, my degree was a double major in Physics and Philosophy. They "saw" the Philosophy part, and felt I'd be interested in this book. I wasn't. I admit I judged a book by it's cover here, but it looked too much like a pop-philo book - the kind of which I'm rarely interested in. So not only did I ignore it, but I went so far as to click the thumbs down button next to the ad. Facebook then provided me with another ad. And I must say hilarity ensued, as Facebook went from one extreme - that of the intellectual philosopher in persuit of bettering himself (albeit it with what still seems to me a pop-philo book. I've yet to really look into it) to the complete other side of the spectrum:



Tractors Vs. Yacht! Show me destruction! Huge machines! I love the smell of diesel in the morning! Honestly, this one surprised me - as there's nothing about boating, tractors, or heavy machinery in my profile. My assumption is Facebook said: "Okay, you don't like the intellectual stuff, huh? How about something along the lines of Monster trucks... let's see what we have here.... Ooh! Tractor vs. Yacht!"

Facebook has surprised me in the past with their ads - when I recently went single (and let Facebook know), I started noticing a new line of ads. And I promise, I am not making this up. Within the first month or so, Facebook offered me ads such as: "Find hot girls in your area!" This gradually changed to "Find girls in your area!" (A difference here whose subtlety is a measure of how superficial you are). A few months later, my profile status still listing me as single, I noticed the ads had become "Find geeky girls!" Not only had they given up on my standards of women, but they also widened the area from local, to just about anywhere. Thanks Facebook. This reached it's peak of hilarity when Facebook advertised this to me: "Get tips on how to talk to women."

So while it seems that the smart ads went from being smart and useful to "smart" and assuming, I'll admit this: I do prefer them over the static ads that are so far from anything I could ever want...like this one, I came across this morning: