1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

How do the ads on PriusChat (or any similar website) work?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by kgall, Aug 2, 2011.

  1. kgall

    kgall Active Member

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    984
    152
    2
    Location:
    Olympic Peninsula, WA
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    For most of my time on PriusChat, I've gotten mostly ads from Toyota, or people wanting to sell me a Toyota. Sometimes I get ads for competitors like Ford Focus, Chevy Volt, etc. All of that makes perfect sense.

    Now, the other day, I went to a totally independent (so far as I know) website at bought some Calphalon cookware. I also shopped around for that and other brands on other also independent and competing websites. However, I did use the computer I sometimes use to access PriusChat.

    Suddenly, today, on PriusChat, I get ads for Calphalon cookware. I can't remember any ads for non-automotive stuff. SO--how does PriusChat (or the ad-suppliers websites like PriusChat contracts with) do it?

    Do they read a lot more of my browser's cookies than their own? Do the people I buy things from mark me as a hot prospect with their ad agencies?
    Or what?
    And last, why does somebody who apparently knows what I bought think that I'm going to buy very similar stuff again, as though I needed the same thing twice????
     
    #1 kgall, Aug 2, 2011
  2. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2007
    7,512
    1,185
    0
    Location:
    Carmichael, CA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    They are probably reading cookies from your computer, so they know where you have been (aka what you are interested in) but they don't necessarily know what you actually purchased.
     
    #2 dogfriend, Aug 3, 2011
  3. kgall

    kgall Active Member

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    984
    152
    2
    Location:
    Olympic Peninsula, WA
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Thanks. But if that's so, how come I didn't get an ad from any of the other brands that I looked at, or the website that I bought the product from, or the other sellers' websites I looked at?
     
    #3 kgall, Aug 3, 2011
  4. 13Plug

    13Plug Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2008
    581
    104
    0
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    Google tracks your every move on the net and tailors the ads just for you. They do that to everyone. They have quite a profile on everyone, and if you use GMail, Google Docs, Picasa, YouTube, Google+, or other Google products boy do they ever have a big profile on you.

    As for why you're not seeing competitors ads, perhaps they're not running an ad campaign right now.
     
    #4 13Plug, Aug 3, 2011
  5. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,074
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    They might not be paying for ads, or don't participate with that ad service.

    Tom
     
    #5 qbee42, Aug 3, 2011
  6. kgall

    kgall Active Member

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    984
    152
    2
    Location:
    Olympic Peninsula, WA
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Thanks to all.
    Today I got cookware ads from the same manufacturer on a random website that I had never visited before. Well, the website wasn't totally random--it did have to do with food. But it's pretty clear someone knows about me.

    Privacy is dead, I guess. Everyone is telling me to get over it.
     
    #6 kgall, Aug 3, 2011
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    108,848
    49,447
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i agree. i was shocked when the last website i went to showed up the next time on p/c. wow!
     
    #7 bisco, Aug 3, 2011
  8. J5A

    J5A Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2011
    592
    83
    0
    Location:
    Severna Park, MD
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Cookies are speedy.
    I was doing random research on the VW TDI and thought it ironic the ads showed up on PC.
     
    #8 J5A, Aug 3, 2011
  9. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2009
    17,317
    10,167
    90
    Location:
    Western Washington
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    They are tailoring more than just the ads. They now tailor search results and news too, to fit their perception of what you want to see. This has enormous potential for unintended consequences.
     
    #9 fuzzy1, Aug 4, 2011
  10. amped

    amped Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2004
    3,892
    694
    0
    Location:
    Columbia River Gorge, Oregon
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    With Google, it's too often not what you want to see, but what they want you to see depending on who paid for what.
     
    #10 amped, Aug 4, 2011
  11. metro-mike

    metro-mike Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2010
    53
    13
    0
    Location:
    Tacoma WA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    #11 metro-mike, Aug 5, 2011
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)