It’s no secret that we’re being tracked.
But it is both amazing and scary how it works.
Earlier my wife texted me about the NYT Spelling Bee.
She tried to make a word – peckable – that the game didn’t count as a word. (Sounds like a word. What do I know.)
So being both curious and a little miffed at missing out on a pangram (which she also found), she Googled it.
And found something called Happy Hens Ultra Peckable Feed. And texted me the Happy Hen logo.
Later in the day, I opened Facebook.
And was presented with a giant post – not an ad, really, a timeline post – about Happy Hen feed.
I never searched for it. I didn’t click it. I don’t have any hens, though I do have a chicken coop.
Something out there tracking us knew someone on this IP address was looking at Happy Hen feed, and thought I’d like to know more about it. (I would not, at the moment.)
So be careful what you search for! And if you start seeing weird ads and posts – chances are someone on your network may be searching for those things even if you are not. Which is sort of creepy.
But at least if I ever do decide to fill up my chicken coop – I know what feed to get. I hear that it’s peckable!