{"id":34275,"date":"2024-11-17T17:00:24","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T22:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=34275"},"modified":"2025-01-10T12:31:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T17:31:26","slug":"roads-i-have-traveled-or-the-madness-of-facebooks-algorithms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=34275","title":{"rendered":"Roads I Have Traveled: Or, the Madness of Facebook’s Algorithms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Facebook’s feed algorithm is famously weird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It often “thinks” I’m interested in businesses in the Memphis area. I’ve never been to Memphis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It once recommended an Orthodox subscription box service and another time an Episcopalian dating website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, it thinks I’m interested in PG-13 rated Frozen<\/i> content. I am not. I’ve seen the film once and reviled it completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the truly weird content I’m getting? Because I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why<\/i> it exists or how it’s monetized?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roads!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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US Route 15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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US Route 17<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roads I have driven on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have driven on US Route 15 many times. I’ve taken it from Gettysburg to Durham, driving a moving van, no less. (I would have driven past the road sign in the right center image when going south.) And I’ve driven much shorter legs, typically from Frederick to Madison, when visiting my parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Route 17, I’ve taken some of the north segments, like from Fredericksburg to Warrenton, and I’ve taken it from Wilmington to Myrtle Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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US Route 33<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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US Route 211<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US Route 33! I’ve driven on this in Virginia and West Virginia. That sign that reads “Rawley Springs”? I’ve been past that. I think that’s in Pendleton County, West Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Route 211! I’ve been on this a number of times. I took this from New Market to Warrenton a few years ago due to an accident on I-81. (I was visiting my parents.) I’ve been past that road sign that says Luray (pronounced LOO<\/em>-ray).<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

US Route 1! When I worked at Virginia Center Commons north of Richmond when I was in college, I worked within a mile of Route 1. When I worked for EB Games in Cary, North Carolina, I worked within two miles of Route 1. I have driven many segments of Route 1. I’m pretty sure I know the road signs in the picture center right; I do<\/em> know they’re in Raleigh.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

US Route 11! I used to live two miles off of this in the Shenandoah Valley. I know I have been past that Mount Sidney sign; it’s in Rockingham County, Virginia. (It actually may be Augusta, come to think of it. Right near the county line.) I don’t live that far from it now; US 11 runs through Harrisburg.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

US 29! That road sign — Charlottesville 34 — is in Lovingston, Virginia in Nelson County. There’s a Catholic Church<\/a> right around that bend. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been through Lovingston, but it’s high three digits. At least<\/em>. (The number of times I’ve stopped<\/em> in Lovingston, though? Maybe a dozen?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interstates aren’t left out of the fun!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Interstate 97! Runs from Baltimore to Annapolis! I have driven its entire length, as recently as October. (I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with friends, we went to Annapolis for seafood after, and I picked up I-97 where it starts to head home.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Interstate 81! I have been on this, though not in a single trip, its length from Knoxville to Harrisburg. These days, it’s the way I usually go to visit my parents; I go north to Harrisburg, pick up 81, and take that to Staunton, when I cross Afton Mountain, work my way over to 29, then go south to Lynchburg. It can be a very scenic road. It can be a very boring road. And it can be a very scary road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s wrap this up.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Interstate 83! I have driven almost<\/em> its entire length, though not in one go. (I’m missing about a mile at the southern end, and about five at the northern.) When I work in the office, I take 83. (There’s really no other way of getting from York to Baltimore’s northern ring.) I think<\/em> the picture top right is approaching Shrewsbury past the Welcome Center heading north; it’s definitely Pennsylvania, though. (The barrier in the middle is a dead giveaway.) The middle right picture is George Street in York past the hospital heading north into town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know what Facebook is trying to sell me, nor even why it picked these roads. I don’t have the Facebook app on my phone, so unless Facebook is somehow getting location information from Google Maps and\/or Vivaldi (the browser I use on my phone), I don’t know how it’s getting these roads from me<\/em>. Maybe it’s “seeing” the time it takes to make a screenshot as interest, even though I’m not interacting with this content at all. It’s puzzling me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The algorithms are strange<\/em>, man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook’s feed algorithm is famously weird. It often “thinks” I’m interested in businesses in the Memphis area. I’ve never been to Memphis. It once recommended an Orthodox subscription box service and another time an Episcopalian dating website. Recently, it thinks I’m interested in PG-13 rated Frozen content. I am not. I’ve seen the film onceContinue reading “Roads I Have Traveled: Or, the Madness of Facebook’s Algorithms”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[424,752,23,4145,222],"class_list":["post-34275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-baltimore","tag-facebook","tag-harrisburg","tag-raleigh","tag-richmond","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}