David Bowie and Zuckerberg

[BFCElvis]

This was so remarkable this morning that I've decided to share. I am a HUGE Bowie fan. To say "HUGE" doesn't even express it enough. Because today is his birthday I changed my Facebooks profile and cover pictures to pictures of Bowie. Less than 5 minutes after posting the picture below I started getting ads for Gibson Les Paul guitars. I don't play guitar. When I posted I didn't mention anything about guitars. I've never researched guitars. 

The picture is Bowie with his old guitar player Mick Ronson who played Gibson Les Pauls. 

 

 

I gotta admit. It freaked me out a little bit. Maybe Zuckerberg thinks I should take up shredding.

[Redwolf]

A picture is worth a 1000 words

But the ad is for a Les Paul [i]Studio[/i].

[BFCElvis]

3 minutes ago, Redwolf said:

A picture is worth a 1000 words

But the ad is for a Les Paul [i]Studio[/i].

Yeah. Ronno played a Les Paul Custom. But it's still pretty freaky because the picture had to trigger the ad, right?

[Redwolf]

4 minutes ago, BFCElvis said:

Yeah. Ronno played a Les Paul Custom. But it's still pretty freaky because the picture had to trigger the ad, right?

Yeah. Modern image recognition is certainly able to tell a LP from a Stratocaster in an image that clear.

But we cannot rule out that it is coincidence. Maybe they just decided to show you a Gibson ad and it happened to have a Les Paul for sale.

[danfrodo]

Funny I just learned ziggy stardust and, more interestingly, Starman -- classic Bowie w clever & unique chord progression.  And I did not order a Les Paul (I have a guitar that sounds very les paul-sh) but I did just order this beauty below (delivery tomorrow), i do love me some Vox.  This did unfortunately cause serious delays for KG Peiper as I spent way too much time researching between this and Gretsch electromatics.  der Fuhrer was positively frothing w fury at this, but hey, war's lost anyway, right?  I gotta start thinking about my next gig after hostilities end.  Hopefully the Brits will capture me, they seem nice.

[danfrodo]

That Ziggy Stardust distortion + les paul sound, absolutely epic

[BFCElvis]

26 minutes ago, danfrodo said:

Funny I just learned ziggy stardust and, more interestingly, Starman -- classic Bowie w clever & unique chord progression.  

I didn't start understanding those elements until I had gotten older. In the documentary Five Years Rick Wakeman does a great job of talking about unique chord progressions in Life On Mars?.  At the time the 15 year old me didn't get too far beyond "this song is awesome!"

[danfrodo]

Vast majority of rock/pop stuff uses some mix of 1-4-5 chords and maybe a 6 and/or a 3 thrown in.  Bowie typically would break that formula, changing keys here & there and back again, throwing in a minor where one expects a major.  Only really good songwriters can do this and actually make it work into a something that fits together.

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

8 hours ago, BFCElvis said:

Yeah. Ronno played a Les Paul Custom. But it's still pretty freaky because the picture had to trigger the ad, right?

If you haven’t browsed any guitar store or company pages recently it will have undoubtedly been the image. 

Data and targeted ads is how they make their money after all, they are very good at this type of thing and they are in cahoots with a lot of other companies to share it about the place. It’s scary the amount of apps that gather personal data that they don’t need in order to function.

Accuweather got caught out for this thing a few years ago, but this was worse as they were gathering locations data even when the user denied the app its use: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/8/24/16197262/accuweather-app-mobile-sdk-collect-user-data-privacy

MMM

[dbsapp]

13 hours ago, BFCElvis said:

This was so remarkable this morning that I've decided to share. I am a HUGE Bowie fan. To say "HUGE" doesn't even express it enough. Because today is his birthday I changed my Facebooks profile and cover pictures to pictures of Bowie. Less than 5 minutes after posting the picture below I started getting ads for Gibson Les Paul guitars. I don't play guitar. When I posted I didn't mention anything about guitars. I've never researched guitars. 

The picture is Bowie with his old guitar player Mick Ronson who played Gibson Les Pauls. 

 

 

I gotta admit. It freaked me out a little bit. Maybe Zuckerberg thinks I should take up shredding.

Should it be counted as  a sign of Big Data omnipotence or, quite contrary, as its failure?

Big Data enthusiasts claim that Facebook algorithm can understand that a woman is pregnant before she knows it herself. 

But your example clearly shows that FB algorithms are still robust. Despite you've given them tons of your data (even if you create the simplest account they receive a lot), they still failed to understand that you don't play guitar. 

[BFCElvis]

50 minutes ago, dbsapp said:

Should it be counted as  a sign of Big Data omnipotence or, quite contrary, as its failure?

Big Data enthusiasts claim that Facebook algorithm can understand that a woman is pregnant before she knows it herself. 

But your example clearly shows that FB algorithms are still robust. Despite you've given them tons of your data (even if you create the simplest account they receive a lot), they still failed to understand that you don't play guitar. 

True. But I got this just now.

[danfrodo]

whoa, that is messed up.  So is it FB or The Google that is doing this I wonder?

[Probus]

@BFCElvis, Facebook is incredibly good at finding and serving up ads.  Once they figure out its not guitars you're after, watch the David Bowie collectable's ads start showing up (if they haven't already).  In fact they probably have and you've already ordered a David Bowie plushie or bobble head (am I right?).

Once Facebook figured out what I was interested in, they nailed me with ads that were so on target, I actually bought things from them.  Like when does that ever happen?  But, so far, I've been the victim of 2 Facebook scams where what I ordered and what I received were vastly different.

First was a diecast Saturn V rocket. Absolutely beautiful and at a price I couldn't pass up.  Ordered it and as I waited saw my beautiful die cast model add morph into a Lego Saturn V kit (that I already owned). Almost cancelled it but decided to see what would show up.  It was a "Legos" kit, not the one pictured in the later ads but a miniature version of it...  At least I got something worth some value to me.

Second item I ordered I thought I was pretty safe. A $19.95 laptop tray with an adjustable stand, drink holder and mouse pad.  I received a 3 piece slightly better than cardboard, punch out of a laptop stand that looked nothing like the picture. No drink holder, no mouse pad.  I had used Paypal to buy it so I disputed it.  Paypal said I would have to send it back.  I said sure, but since its gonna cost $30 to send back and Paypal's policy is to refund my shipping also, it means Paypal is going to be out like $50... They refunded all of it, no question's asked, the next day.

Now I also complained to Facebook about both of the above.  They refused to take down the ads until they were 'fully investigated'.  The diecast model ad showed both the diecast version and the Lego version in the same ad by this time!!! (which I pointed out to Facebook). Nope, kept running it for months.  So Facebook is taking the stance that they are not responsible for the ads they serve up.

[Artkin]

Les Pauls were made for people with small hands... 

[Ales Dvorak]

17 hours ago, Artkin said:

Les Pauls were made for people with small hands... 

And big wallets.

[Ales Dvorak]

On 1/8/2022 at 11:28 PM, Redwolf said:

A picture is worth a 1000 words

But the ad is for a Les Paul [i]Studio[/i].

Sure, Gibson don't need to advertise 1959 goldtop.

[Ales Dvorak]

On 1/9/2022 at 12:58 AM, danfrodo said:

And I did not order a Les Paul (I have a guitar that sounds very les paul-sh) but I did just order this beauty below (delivery tomorrow), i do love me some Vox.

New guitar is always something special. Enjoy your new Vox, danfrodo. (New guitar = New inspirations :))

[danfrodo]

A. Dvorack -- I couldn't afford a 1950s goldtop, of course, so bought this ~10 years ago as next best thing.  Vox series 33 gold top, w tele-single coil / P90 sounds available via the top switch.  The series 55 had 3rd choice of humbucker.  A GREAT guitar for the money.

And now my new guitar is delayed due to shipping, stuck in distribution center a few hours away, should arrive Wednesday.  Torture.

[BFCElvis]

22 hours ago, Probus said:

@BFCElvis, Facebook is incredibly good at finding and serving up ads.  Once they figure out its not guitars you're after, watch the David Bowie collectable's ads start showing up (if they haven't already).  In fact they probably have and you've already ordered a David Bowie plushie or bobble head (am I right?)..

I always have tons of Bowie ads. Always. He's always been #1 for me, with Elvis being #2. I chose Elvis for my handle on forums because of my last name.

I would love to be able to shred like this though... (figured I'd shamelessly throw some Bowie into a thread that has his name in the title )

Quote

Once Facebook figured out what I was interested in, they nailed me with ads that were so on target, I actually bought things from them.  Like when does that ever happen?  But, so far, I've been the victim of 2 Facebook scams where what I ordered and what I received were vastly different.

First was a diecast Saturn V rocket. Absolutely beautiful and at a price I couldn't pass up.  Ordered it and as I waited saw my beautiful die cast model add morph into a Lego Saturn V kit (that I already owned). Almost cancelled it but decided to see what would show up.  It was a "Legos" kit, not the one pictured in the later ads but a miniature version of it...  At least I got something worth some value to me.

Second item I ordered I thought I was pretty safe. A $19.95 laptop tray with an adjustable stand, drink holder and mouse pad.  I received a 3 piece slightly better than cardboard, punch out of a laptop stand that looked nothing like the picture. No drink holder, no mouse pad.  I had used Paypal to buy it so I disputed it.  Paypal said I would have to send it back.  I said sure, but since its gonna cost $30 to send back and Paypal's policy is to refund my shipping also, it means Paypal is going to be out like $50... They refunded all of it, no question's asked, the next day.

Now I also complained to Facebook about both of the above.  They refused to take down the ads until they were 'fully investigated'.  The diecast model ad showed both the diecast version and the Lego version in the same ad by this time!!! (which I pointed out to Facebook). Nope, kept running it for months.  So Facebook is taking the stance that they are not responsible for the ads they serve up

With 1 exception, if I see an add for somefink on the Facebooks I use the Googles or check the Amazons to see how the item and/or company is reviewed. I can't remember the item that I didn't do that for but it took 6 months to get my money back. To make it more humiliating, if I read the comments people made on the ad I would have seen everything I needed to know to stay away.

@

[Ales Dvorak]

27 minutes ago, danfrodo said:

A. Dvorack -- I couldn't afford a 1950s goldtop, of course, so bought this ~10 years ago as next best thing.  Vox series 33 gold top, w tele-single coil / P90 sounds available via the top switch.  The series 55 had 3rd choice of humbucker.  A GREAT guitar for the money.

And now my new guitar is delayed due to shipping, stuck in distribution center a few hours away, should arrive Wednesday.  Torture.

I checked Vox 33 series on YT... hey, nice sounding guitar. Hmmm..waiting for new guitar ... I know, I've been there ... yes, torture.

Hold on.;)

[Probus]

10 minutes ago, BFCElvis said:

With 1 exception, if I see an add for somefink on the Facebooks I use the Googles or check the Amazons to see how the item and/or company is reviewed. I can't remember the item that I didn't do that for but it took 6 months to get my money back. To make it more humiliating, if I read the comments people made on the ad I would have seen everything I needed to know to stay away.

That's a good idea. It's scary how well those ad servers are getting. I feel better knowing I wasn't the only one who was taken by one of those ads. Sometimes the item advertised is so exciting!

I loved they chose this Bowie song:

 

[landser]

On 1/10/2022 at 9:46 AM, Ales Dvorak said:

Sure, Gibson don't need to advertise 1959 goldtop.

Not to put too fine a point on it but there were no '59 Goldtops

The '59 Standard though, that's the thing.

Gold top "Les Paul Model" was phased out in late '58, replaced by "Les Paul Standard" and went two-piece maple tops and sunburst finish. If you see any non-two-piece sunbursts they are refinished gold tops.

The small hands crack was because of the shorter scale?

I happen to love Gibson guitars and have several including LPs, so this thread is interesting. On one hand this sort of targeting is creepy. On the other hand why wouldn't I want advertising that is suited to me?

I'll look at guitars all day, thanks very much.

 

Here are two of them to give us more guitars to look at

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by landser

[danfrodo]

Those two LPs are absolutely gorgeous.  I've never seen that 'woody' one on the left before, very very very nice!  Thanks for the corrections.  Maybe you should send pics of your whole collection, including amps

[landser]

I don't want to derail the thread with a boatload of pics of my gear, but yeah, I've acquired quite a bit down the years. And I'll never pass up the chance to discuss fishing, Formula 1 or guitars haha.

With apologies to Elvis, and since you asked about them, my amps are a bunch of Fenders and a Marshall. When I was a wee lad, about 10, I had been taking lessons using an old '65 Fender Malibu acoustic, but wanted to rock out. So I saved grass cutting money for a couple summers and bought a used '76 Strat, like Jimi or Clapton or Steve Gaines, ya know? I had a silverface Champ that was wonderful. 7 watts of all-tube tone. I traded that a year later on a 65-watt Peavey Bandit with all of it's push-pulls, and knobs and switches and Black Widow speaker. But that was a big mistake, that Champ was a tone monster. I still miss it.

But to complete the set with the Strat I then bought a 100 watt Marshall 2203 JCM 800 half-stack. Fifteen years old and I was all set. It is viciously loud of course. That was 1983. Since then I haven't been shy, until I got married and had kids, and that all stopped. But I did enough damage before that to have Several Strats, a Tele, a PRS, the Les Pauls, a few acoustics. I keep meaning to take them all out and get some pics. I took those LPs out in the yard one summer afternoon. Natural sunlight makes guitars pop.

Thanks for the compliments. The LP on the left is a 2001 Studio Plus in Desertburst (which has changed since then). The other one is also a 2001, a Les Paul Classic with ceramics and a slim profile neck in Honeyburst. It's a '60 reissue really, despite the hot pickups. Out of all my guitars, the Studio is my number one.

The amp I use the most these days is a heavily modified Fender Blues Junior. The Marshall is a lot of amplifier, but years ago I bought an attenuator for it, so I can still play it cranked at reasonable volume. Without that, I'd never use it.

Edited January 18, 2022 by landser

[danfrodo]

Yeah, I was thinking you would need an attenuator when I read "100 watt marshall"

I hear you on the champ, I had one also.  But my biggest regret is selling my "57 tweed vibrolux -- WTF was I think all those years ago??????   These days I have a valve-state marshall (is just ok) but my real amp is vox ac15.  Plus I got a vox mini superbeetle for free recently, which sounds amazing.  And I've got some amp modeling pedals I run thru a PA speaker for getting good tone while staying pretty quiet.