Mentioned Disney parks in a conversation in the car with my parents and the next day had Disney ads, never before.
About 2 days ago was talking about night guards for teeth with someone and the next day had Invisalign ads on Facebook.
I don't have the Facebook app installed, but do have the messenger app. I just turned off microphone access to the app and now it won't let me take pictures in-app.
Some hours later, saw my first ever Speedway ad on Facebook. Never seen one before, even after pulling off at other exits having Speedways, for gas, and IIRC even filling up at one a time or two. (Note that I keep Android location services turned off on my phone.)
This is not the first time in the past couple of years that I've seen an ad or "Suggested" content on Facebook that relates to something that was only discussed verbally, a short time prior.
There are possible confounds:
1. The algo's are that good, meaning that the spookiness is explained by them having other data (say about your peer group) and then knew that you wanted that gourmet coffee press that you and your wife talked about, before you talked about it.
2. We may be unaware of the sheer number of times we are being targeted on the web.
So add in a salience factor where you are targeted millions of times, by pretty good algos, and then only notice the ones where there is that coincidence that lead to a feeling a "spookiness."
I am sure that explains some of these... but I am still left unsure about the mic issue!
