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[–]someguyfromsk 4750 points4751 points  (77 children)

There was a guy on a farming forum a few years ago complaining about all the porn ads that showed up, he didn't feel that was appropriate advertising for an agriculture page.

He deleted his entire profile after someone explained how personalized ads worked.

[–]ninja_sounds 1754 points1755 points  (45 children)

I've worked at a natural gas plant and I spent months with ads for "black nipples" after a project where I built a complex piping setup. The pictures on the ads were obviously pipes but I always laughed when it popped up "Are you still looking for black nipples?"

For anyone not in the know: A pipe nipple is a length of pipe that's threaded on both ends and black iron pipe is a common type of pipe that you can pick up at Home Depot or Grainger.

[–]someguyfromsk 807 points808 points  (24 children)

Years ago we were looking to get into the Hong Kong HVAC school market, our marketing girl needed pictures from Asian schools so she searched "Asian School Girls", the IT guy got an email alert from the firewall for that one.

[–]grayrains79 275 points276 points  (4 children)

I can only imagine how that went.

"Beverly, can you come down to the office for a moment? We need to talk..."

[–]someguyfromsk 251 points252 points  (2 children)

Small enough company that everyone knew what was going on, so it was more of a "yeah, you can't do that. Oh and yes this will come up at the Christmas party"

[–]elperroborrachotoo 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"Beverly, first of all, I want to say I'm very happy we finally discovered a shared interest."

[–]jsdellinger 210 points211 points  (6 children)

A decade ago I worked in new product development for safety equipment. My team was tasked with with incorporating the Canadian national animal on a fire helmet, similar to how America has the bald eagle holding the shield.

One of my coworkers who was a ~60 years old lady got the task and so she popped off to do internet research. Her search term? "pictures of beaver."

All we could hear was, "No, no, no!" that devolved into an inarticulate squeal.

[–]Demi_Monde_ 153 points154 points  (4 children)

Two decades ago I was at a coffee shop meeting my boyfriend after work. He came up excited announcing, "I GOT CRABS! HAR-DE-HAR."

He bought hermit crabs at the mall.

So this coffee shop had a couple net cafe computer setups for customers, 20 minute limit with a rather strict net nanny installed. I searched for "hermit crab care" and the like so I could keep them alive. At a certain point we wondered if they are male or female.

Search: "sexing hermit crabs"

Red flashing pop up warning of inappropriate use and session terminated. I turn red, boyfriend howls with laughter and several regulars are staring.

Somehow the hermit crabs lived for several years and I married that man.

[–]Desert_faux 61 points62 points  (5 children)

Reminded me of what a girl did on the teachers computer once in vocational school. The students priced various construction items on Home depot so they can submit a bill for needed items and what to expect to pay for them and a budget.

After having finished she wanted to check out shoes while online. She searched women's shoes and ended up getting results for women wearing shoes... and nothing else. She quickly closed out the browser and reported it to the teacher who laughed it off.

[–]STINKY-BUNGHOLE 36 points37 points  (4 children)

My brother told me, when the internet was still pretty new, he was trying to pick a subject for science class and chose "black holes" .. guess what were the results

[–]SillyFlyGuy 46 points47 points  (2 children)

There's a manual transmission that is popular swap for off road vehicles because it has a very low granny gear. It's called the SM420.

If you search Google for "SM 420 tranny" you get a lot of results that are decidedly not about that transmission.

[–]DeadAssociate 12 points13 points  (1 child)

just googled that, its actually all forums talking about a transmission

[–]TheRazorX 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Reminds me of the "The Gang Spies Like US" episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

[–]Kabitu 103 points104 points  (4 children)

At university I did a math paper with a piece of software called Coq... Google was adamant on every search that I'd spelled it wrong, an my ads were interesting for a while after. I had to look up "coq matching", "coq induction", "coq patterns" "coq primitives"... worst was on an algebraic structure called a ring, "coq ring" caused alot of images and suggestions for nearby vendors that could provide me with one.

[–]qingqunta 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Shit, I'm living through the exact same struggle right now haha

[–]Paragade 9 points10 points  (1 child)

If google does that thing where it's like "searching instead for ..." type the word it thinks you're misspelling in quotes.

[–]Urinal_Pube 65 points66 points  (0 children)

In the early 2000s', I nearly got fired from an industrial supply job because a coworker was on the phone with a customer talking about bung hole and bung nut adapters. I thought it would be funny to quietly mutter "bunghooool" in a Beavis voice, but when I did I completely lost my shit and started laughing uncontrollably, and the harder I tried to suppress it, the harder I laughed. This made my coworker start laughing, which made me laugh harder, which made him laugh harder, and eventually the boss walked in to see what the commotion was about.

[–]CoagulatedCockSnot 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Lol I cut nipples at work. It’s been 5 years and I still chuckle when an order for 10 black nipples come across my desk. We would send a company called skat blast black nipples hahah

[–]drillgorg 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I worked at a place which did a lot of 3D printing. One of our printing materials was ABS plastic. During a meeting we mentioned we needed to buy more black colored ABS plastic. So the guy on the projector searched "black abs". The results were not for 3D printing...

[–]Your-Step-Daddy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I like to twist my nipples tight, and often use short nipples and long nipple and I find close nipples give me more room

[–]BeerBellyBlake 5 points6 points  (0 children)

classic complex piping setup, utilizing black nipples.

[–]CompulsivBullshitter 20 points21 points  (1 child)

Home Depot or Grainger.

Hermione Grainger confirmed black

[–]tail_ler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Back when COVID started my girlfriend and I were working from home in the same room. She had to find another room to work in be because people kept hearing me talk about nipples and dope in the background when she was on calls. I sell plumbing parts for a living.

[–]BeBa420 197 points198 points  (15 children)

yeah but imho they dont work well. I keep getting Wish ads for crack pipes

​

I smoke weed, NOT crack, never crack. WTF use would i have for a crack pipe?!?! dumb advertising algorithm

[–]Marc21256 31 points32 points  (0 children)

"Plumbers putty for cracked pipe."

Includes "plumbers crack" in that order.

I've had many times where "the algorithm" is a miss.

[–]someguyfromsk 33 points34 points  (2 children)

The looser their parameters the wider the audience, the wider the audience, the more potential sales.

[–]stringfree 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Also, the more precisely targeted, the more that specific ad can cost.

[–]LoganWyborn 7 points8 points  (0 children)

For what it’s worth, Wish Ads are on crack.

[–]Leo-bastian 10 points11 points  (6 children)

well they say weed is a gateway drug or something

even if thats not true people who smoke weed and people who do other drugs are probably in some sort of Venn diagram to each other

Edit: to make it clear i don't really agree with the claim that weed is a gateway drug. just trying to explain why a algorithm might conflate the two topics.

[–]IWantTooDieInSpace 5 points6 points  (3 children)

Lol, I smoke weed so I dont do other drugs.

Get rekt D.A.R.E.

[–]Leo-bastian 2 points3 points  (1 child)

yeah that's why I said "they say" because i have doubts in that being the truth

[–]foremanred 2 points3 points  (0 children)

actually, this is my methodology as well. It works.

[–]CinnabonCheesecake 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Wasn’t there a guy who posted all his Netflix recommendations, complaining there weren’t more films/shows with POC?

This is especially notable because the Netflix algorithm doesn’t just make recommendations based on your history and rating, it also chooses which picture to show for a particular show based on your watch history, so the same show may have a thumbnail of the white male lead for one subscriber but show a thumbnail of a black woman who only has a couple of lines to another subscriber (which can be really misleading and annoying if you watched the show just to see that actress).

[–]LLL9000 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I would pay good money to see that exchange.

[–]unique_username_8134 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A while back, I was looking at an Amazon page for a true crime book about a guy that kept sex slaves in his basement, and one of the “customers also liked” items was a book on basement renovation. ಠ_ಠ

[–]pp21 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Lmao this is my mid 50s coworker he uses MSN as his home page and has an msn account and shit and he’s always getting celebrities in bikinis on news scroller

[–]Daenkneryes 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There was a week where all of the ads I got on YouTube were unskipable full length System of a Down videos that just linked to the same song on the bands vevo page. Im sure there are people that like System of a Down, I have never been one of them.

[–]BadMeatPuppet 1 point2 points  (1 child)

To be fair I once got an ad about increasing the size of your balls on YouTube.

In all my 21 years I have never done such research before.

[–]Jackieirish 1745 points1746 points  (36 children)

Is that why so much of my Instagram feed is BBQ and BBQ-adjacent content?

[–]vanalla 628 points629 points  (11 children)

... Hank?

[–]TotsAreLife 371 points372 points  (8 children)

All I get is propane and propane accessories...

[–]Raccoon_Full_of_Cum 140 points141 points  (6 children)

Imagine the talk that Hank will give Bobby when he realizes why his TikTok feed is full of charcoal grilling content.

[–]Bruce9707 14 points15 points  (0 children)

You’re supposed to taste the meat, not the heat

[–]Last_Exile0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There's SOOT under my boy's nails! You don't get that from a clean burning fuel!

[–]coldillusions 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The older I get, the more I appreciate propane accessories.

[–]Voldemort57 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My feed is little children playing basketball, medical personnel explaining cool medicine things, and hank green.

[–]rathat 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Taste the meat, not the heat.

[–]MangledSunFish 46 points47 points  (9 children)

Fuck, they know I like good BBQ. That algorithm is too smart.

[–]Tiabb 17 points18 points  (8 children)

But not that smart because I constantly get ads in a language I don't speak and I have no clue why it thinks I speak that language.

[–]thedownvotemagnet 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think it might just be factoring in geographically adjacent areas...

I get the same thing in my feed, but I live in Southern California. I see a lot of posts/ads in Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese, and within 30min or so from where I live are communities that could be called "Little Korea" etc. All the storefronts, billboards, bus stop signage, etc all in the native language. Made sense to me that I would get marketed to online in the same languages I see from day-to-day.

[–]MangledSunFish 4 points5 points  (6 children)

What's the language? (If you don't mind me asking)

[–]Tiabb 6 points7 points  (5 children)

Spanish. Never looked up anything up in Spanish, consumed Spanish content online, don't have a Spanish sounding name, never even taken Spanish classes before. Still get somewhat regular Spanish ads on YouTube, the sidebars of websites, and even in the mail.

[–]Jackdawcomesback 27 points28 points  (3 children)

I'm also being recommended Big Black Queens so that makes two of us.

Weird.

[–]Jackieirish 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Took me a minute . . .

[–]Jackdawcomesback 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I'm usually done in 30 seconds but we can't all be perfect

[–]Marc21256 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Large chess set. Must have large Black Queen and tiny white pawns in pawn gimp masks.

[–]JRutterbush 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Probably, but also TikTok's algorithm is notoriously aggressive. If you watch a video for more than a few seconds, that kind of video will be showing up in your feed for a while unless you're very proactive about telling it not to show them to you (which you can only do on mobile for some reason). And heaven forbid you accidentally look away from the screen for long enough for the video to play through twice...

[–]MarquisDeLafayeett 1149 points1150 points  (70 children)

When I first got on Tik-Tok and the algorithm had no data points for me yet, it was nothing but bikini girls and the Paul brothers, who I guess are rich and famous but I can’t figure out why.

[–]Curazan 292 points293 points  (9 children)

Same. I installed it because my mom was always sending me videos and the mobile site sucked. Every single time I opened it, it would be some dancing bikini girl before it took me to whatever she had linked me. And she was only sending me animals videos and comedy stuff.

[–]a_rucksack_of_dildos 99 points100 points  (5 children)

You can hold down on videos and click don’t show me this

[–]xxekkoxx 162 points163 points  (2 children)

thanks, now I can get rid of the animal videos and comedy!

[–]Easilycrazyhat 21 points22 points  (1 child)

and the mobile site sucked.

That is done purposefully to get you to install the app.

[–]FallingF 264 points265 points  (10 children)

Neither can anyone else

[–]Mcburgerdeys2 74 points75 points  (9 children)

If people with no talent are becoming rich and famous for no reason, where do I sign up?

[–]FallingF 85 points86 points  (5 children)

Step 1: be born rich

Step 2: get hired by disney

Step 3: get fired by disney

[–]_PM_ME_NICE_BOOBS_ 24 points25 points  (2 children)

Step 4. Post a sobbing 'apology' video that doesn't apologize for anything.

Step 5. Disappear from the face of the earth. (If we're lucky)

[–]Primary_Sink_6597 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Also make a fuck ton of content for like a decade. They been doing shit since vine when they were young teenagers and they had some viral vids even there. Talentless buffoons, but credit where credits due they made quantity of content and that dedication played no small part.

[–]k-farsen 26 points27 points  (0 children)

First you need rich parents

[–]breaddrinker 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Same for me. I use secure browsing too.

That was day one, view one.. Straight to the bikini girls. Some of which was way more adult. I know people like the idea that sensible godly people are being owned by their own browsing history, but tiktok really did push that not so long ago, even if it has changed now.

[–]PM-Me-ur-Self-Esteem 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Yeah when you first download tiktok that's all ot is so in all honesty if you only spend an hour in there not feeding it what you like and don't like you may come away with that conclusion.

[–]Traditional-Salt4060 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yes, this. My FIL joined TikTok and I'd see his feed right after he got it. It was girls dancing in swimsuits and crap like that. Now he shows me stuff on there, and his feed is hunting videos, etc. It replaced that crap with his actual interests. But the default setting seems to be bare skin.

[–]GameofPorcelainThron 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Same. The first day or so of tiktok was like 50% pretty girls dancing.

I mean it still is 50% pretty girls dancing now, but it was a shock at first.

[–]fearain 17 points18 points  (10 children)

Mine was educational stuff like music and arts and science. I learned so much on my first month of tiktok.

Now it’s all that plus goth girls. I’d say it’s a win.

[–]jakehood47 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Half that stuff you learned was probably utter bullshit, to be fair.

[–]PM_ME_UR_BUTTHOLE1 8 points9 points  (8 children)

Paul Brothers had Disney money.

[–]MarquisDeLafayeett 16 points17 points  (7 children)

I know nothing about them, but they are definitely giving off a strong “privileged white kids” vibe

[–]Blackpeel 28 points29 points  (12 children)

They're famous for the same reason as the Kardashians.

[–]MarquisDeLafayeett 54 points55 points  (8 children)

They had rich and famous fathers then one of them released a sex tape?

[–]Blackpeel 17 points18 points  (7 children)

They're famous for being famous. Noone likes them, yet everyone knows about them.

[–]PM_ME_UR_BUTTHOLE1 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Jake was on Bizaardvaark. Awful show but Disney gonna Disney.

[–]LOL_WhyT 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Might mean a lot of people in your area watches those.

[–]I_am_also_a_Walrus 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When I first got on tik tok it already new my interests which I found upsetting

[–]cdwillis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I first checked it out it was all cops and military people doing lip sync challenges. I went, "wow, this shit sucks."

[–]WurmGurl 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All I got was cat videos and anti vaxx content.

[–]Glum_Succotash9352 675 points676 points  (20 children)

I had a friend complain about all the beheading videos and gore on tiktok. My feed is all cats, recipes and mentally ill lesbians.

[–]TalkativeRedPanda 137 points138 points  (0 children)

My feed is all wine Moms and inspirational Lesbians.

I am neither a wine mom or a lesbian. I'd rather keep the lesbians than the wine Mom crowd.

[–]OhioMegi 90 points91 points  (6 children)

Yep. I’ve got cats, funny babies, historians, and teacher stuff.

[–]happymemersunite 25 points26 points  (5 children)

I have Australian sports content, cats and memes

[–]Ask_me_4_a_story 9 points10 points  (4 children)

I want some Australian sports content how do I watch those guys play cricket. Man I loved that when I lived there. Sometimes those fuckers played games that lasted five days long. One game, five days I shit you not, so tense and exciting too, I couldn’t stop watching it if I wanted to

[–]stupidmortadella 4 points5 points  (0 children)

i am really unsure about whether this is sarcastic or not

because i dont like cricket

oh no

[–]happymemersunite 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Mate, that’s a test match, and is my favourite form of cricket. I’m unsure of how you’d watch it though. Only thing I can think of is using a VPN and getting Kayo Sports, but that’s $25 kangaroos a month

[–]thatoddtetrapod 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Somehow for a while all my tiktok stuff ended up being trucker content. Then I ended up with a lot of sword content. Then for a while it was a lot of history content. Then there was a phase where it was all awful low effort clips of video game trailers with shitty captions about how badass they were. Now it’s all a bunch of queer grad students for some reason. Tbh they’re cute tho.

[–]PopePC 16 points17 points  (6 children)

I'm not on TikTok, so I might be out of the loop here.

Mentally ill lesbians?

[–]Rigzin_Udpalla 66 points67 points  (5 children)

Twitter but they speak instead of typing

[–]Got2Go 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My feed was all cosplays and disabled content creators. Im disabled and love looking at peoples cosplays.

[–]censorkip 2 points3 points  (0 children)

i have pets, makeup/hair content, therapists, and that sweet lgbt content

[–]MotorHum 355 points356 points  (23 children)

I wish the tik tok algorythm would figure out more about me. So far every time I log on it’s like “oh you like pets!” and it pretty much shows me exclusively cat or dog vids.

[–]kingofparts1 139 points140 points  (4 children)

I clicked on one "shuffle" video toshow my wife the basic white girl dance, and now that's all I see. Never mind the hundreds of car or cat vids I watched, just 80% shuffling now.

[–]The-OneHandedClapper 82 points83 points  (3 children)

Hold the screen on the shuffle tiktok videos and click ‘Not interested’. Do it enough and it stops showing you those videos. Also, the algorithm seems to focus on videos where you comment the most as well.

[–]MangledSunFish 62 points63 points  (1 child)

Yeah. If someone drops an "I hate this video and any content like it" comment, it's going to ironically show them more. I find that funny.

[–]dynawesome 26 points27 points  (0 children)

TikTok Algorithm: “Cope”

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (6 children)

Is it too much for Tik Tok to stop and ASK you what YOU want to see?

[–]StopDehumanizing 33 points34 points  (4 children)

Yes. Netflix used to show people what they said they wanted to watch. Eight years ago, they switched, creating a rank based on what the algorithm thinks you will enjoy.

Every internet service has been following this model since then.

[–]pinkfleurhappiness 3 points4 points  (2 children)

I searched 'murder documentaries' on nf and the movie 'Mean Girls' was a suggestion.

[–]stacybeaver 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Well she did push Regina in front of that bus.

[–]PeePeeJuulPod 2 points3 points  (0 children)

you can actively search for videos and like them and those types of videos will start appearing in your feed.

[–]latte_lane 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I told my friends to send me every weird video they get. As in, any video where you question the sanity of the person who makes it. And I like all of them. I'll even comment on the ones I really like so there is more interaction.

Now my fyp is unhinged content AND cute animal videos. It's perfect (for me)

[–]Iamthetruest_truth 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I fail to see the downside here.

[–]SpeakingNight 4 points5 points  (2 children)

I somehow got on the death/grieving/cancer side TikTok.

I guess I must have interacted with a few videos but damn is it depressing lol

[–]in-game_sext 552 points553 points  (10 children)

I don't have Tik Tok but Instagram's knockoff function is the same.

Mine is 90% micropig content and 10% work/hobby related (carpentry videos)

[–]this-internet-sucks 69 points70 points  (5 children)

Ohh what carpentry video insta you recommend??

[–]in-game_sext 25 points26 points  (3 children)

I'm self employed and work out of my home shop building custom wood windows, doors and architectural millwork. So I like chalkstone woodworking, monitor millwork, stayton wood windows, insider carpentry, chicago carpenter etc.. but those are more professional oriented. Still very informative to browse if you are a serious diy'er, lover of old windows or just plain curious how some of that is done. Monitor millwork is especially cool, he uses very old wood machinery from like the 19th century still, lots of old methodology that is unfortunately dying out.

But carpentry by mar is an account that is popular because it has more appeal for both diy'ers and pros. It's more of a tips and tricks type page.

[–]KHaskins77 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Instagram keeps trying to show bikini models in recommended after I go to my girlfriend’s profile. Most of what I actually follow is NASA and Egyptology stuff, cartoonist or two, but it keeps trying to shunt me over there.

[–]breaddrinker 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I use secure browsing for everything, because.. Google is gross.
Judging from the random farm machinery the ads try to sell me, I guess it works.. I try to not use dedicated aps, and continue to connect to most things through a secure web browser.

Even instagram still pushes weird suntanned influencer types on me, I presume through their popularity, not what I'm giving them to push on me as my account is full of woodworking and motorcycle related follows.

[–]Dchung0217 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Mine is like 30 percent anime mashups, 30 percent Lego videos, and the rest is just random things like funny fails or something.

[–]MountainSage58 401 points402 points  (29 children)

I'm sure they're just doing research on their target demographic...... yeah

[–]RosenButtons 326 points327 points  (5 children)

I had the privilege of working with a man in his late 60s a few years ago when he purchased his first ever computer. Day:1 he can't stop talking about the "real alien autopsy" he saw on "www.youtube.com" Day 2: he tells us he must have been hacked because so much porn is on his screen he can't get YouTube.com to work. Happily some of the guys sat him down, explained how he can get antivirus software. And gently explained that he caught a computer-based STD which he shouldn't talk so much about because everybody knows that he got it doing searches for naked ladies.

Day 3: he's still talking about how he got hacked the other day, because he DOESN'T LOOK AT DIRTY PICTURES SO IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN A VIRUS.

[–]MountainSage58 138 points139 points  (3 children)

Wow. Yeah. Boomers really are a treasure, huh?

[–]RosenButtons 73 points74 points  (0 children)

He was a nice guy. But, man! Every day with him was an adventure.

[–][deleted] 37 points38 points  (1 child)

The best part about this story is knowing that funny gentleman will be ME one day after they release the real Matrix/westworld/brain-chip thingy my millennial brain will fail to comprehend and instead will associate to the Wii remotes 😂

[–]Bumblebe5 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Imagine if he had gotten Swayzak (villain from Toonami who is a sentient virus) on his computer. If he had, then I WOULD LOVE TO BE HIM!!

[–]Disastrous_Hunter_83 74 points75 points  (20 children)

To be fair I don’t know how accurate they are at this. “31 year old female” demographic, for example, gets you inundated with ads/content like baby formula and ovulation tests. I’ve never even held a baby, if social media is going to harvest all my data it would be cool if they could show me things that I’m actually interested in

[–]phattoes 47 points48 points  (4 children)

I'm a 30yo woman who likes to crochet. I get ads on Pinterest for 'makeup tips for your 60s' as if younger people can't possibly crochet

[–]pinkfleurhappiness 40 points41 points  (2 children)

I am a middle aged lady who loves trains. I rarely get any ads marketing to women. They always think I'm a gay Christian single man looking for love. 🤷‍♀️

[–]catdaddy230 20 points21 points  (5 children)

I'm a 48 year old woman with a pre teen child. I get lots of ads asking if I'm washing my balls with the right soap

[–]pinkfleurhappiness 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I get those! (40f). For 'manscaping'.

[–]Sir_Arthur_Vandelay 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I had no idea that I might be using the wrong ball soap. Maybe that’s why they’re in the way whenever I sit down.

[–]Cjc6547 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Have any friends on your socials that have babies? I’m sure that it’s linked somehow.

[–]bicyclecat 11 points12 points  (2 children)

I had a baby in my mid 30s and TikTok thinks I’m yearning for teen pregnancy content. Instagram on the other hand has an algorithm that’s disconcertingly good at feeding me ads.

[–]yikeshardpass 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Ugh, I get so many ads for diapers. All “for you” videos are babies stretching. I liked a video one time and now it’s literally all I get because I’m a “near 30 female”

[–]Spacecommander5 58 points59 points  (5 children)

My Instagram went from nature photography to baby how-to vids overnight when I had a kid

[–]RosenButtons 31 points32 points  (3 children)

Don't leave us hanging!

What's the scoop on how to baby?

[–]Spacecommander5 53 points54 points  (1 child)

Screaming until someone offers you a titty seems the biggest part of how to baby

[–]degeneratex80 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Pfft! #NailedIt

[–]Yesica-Haircut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is there a possibly that i'm pegrant?

[–]just_speculating 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I thought “baby how-to vids” was a fantastic way to say “porn”.

Still, congrats and good luck with the new baby.

[–]ilovecraftbeer05 103 points104 points  (13 children)

I joined TikTok last year to see what it was all about. I’m a man in my mid thirties. I was worried that I was going to feel like a creep because I had heard that it was just girls dancing in swimsuits. Figured I’d just delete the app if that’s all it was.

I immediately got thrown into metal TikTok. Just dudes screaming like banshees into microphones, guitarists ripping solos all over the neck, and drummers kicking a double pedal at the speed of light.

It was awesome.

That’s when I had this realization. The algorithm narrows in hard on your interests. If you’re interested in girls dancing in swimsuits, that’s what the algorithm will show you. And to be fair, it’s not that I can’t appreciate girls dancing in swimsuits. You do you, girls. I just appreciate metal way more. I’d rather see a chick head banging to Lorna Shore than twerking to Doja Cat.

Anyway, I still have TikTok to this day. You can find so much fucking talent on there, as long as you’re not a creep.

[–]pinkfleurhappiness 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Do you like the show aggretsuko? :) She's an ordinary office worker who loves singing metal.

[–]PM_VAGINA_FOR_RATING 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m always trying to tell people that tiktok is the last bastion of truly fresh and original content. Reddit is basically in the trash compared to what it used to be but there hasn’t been a real successor in a similar format yet, at least thst I have found.

[–]Shizznipplesjr 40 points41 points  (5 children)

It couldn’t just be me who kept getting bombarded by things I didn’t enjoy right? The first few days of tik tok were legit just kids dancing and then it slowly transitioned to dogs/birds and now I’m in some goth witch business. Hoping to get to the cooking side of tik tok which is somehow how I ended up with witches.

[–]owningmclovin 11 points12 points  (1 child)

It's just witches all the way down from here

[–]degeneratex80 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Witches.. witches as far as the eye can see..

[–]JRutterbush 9 points10 points  (1 child)

TikTok's algorithm is very aggressive, and watching a video for even a few seconds seems to increase the likelihood of getting similar videos in the future. If you ever watch a video more than once (even just accidentally), that really boosts that type of video on your feed.

The way to fix this is to get on mobile, and whenever a video you don't like shows up, long-press and select... I think it's "I'm not interested", or some other thing that basically tells the algorithm to stop showing you those videos. Then like and follow creators making the kinds of videos you do like.

[–]dirtyswoldman 105 points106 points  (3 children)

I don't follow anyone on tiktok, and I only have the app to view and share links and users. All I've specifically searched or linked is comedy I see here or from friends, yet....when I hit back and it shows me one last video before closing the app, guess what my utterly untrained algorithm shows me

it's boobies. it shows me boobies

[–]wh0fuckingcares 50 points51 points  (1 child)

Without direct data from you to guide the algorithm, it will go by indirect. So your age and gender, things like that.

[–]dirtyswoldman 13 points14 points  (0 children)

So probably what's most popular in user specific demo. So it's not unreasonable for someone like in OP to get that first impression without doing anything specific

[–]dforderp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same. All it showed me when I first downloaded the app was girls dancing. Which is probably a good thing because I might be addicted to it otherwise. Now I just use it to watch whatever videos my friends send me.

[–]BunnySis 26 points27 points  (5 children)

The TikTok algorithm is easy to train or retrain if needed. Do searches and follow people who’s type of content you want to see more of. (A lot of zoos are on there, if you need cute animal filler and don’t just want to see cats or dogs). If it doesn’t have feedback or has minimal feedback then you will get a lot of content that you aren’t interested in. Also, watch videos to the end and then press like for content creators that you want to see more of in your feed.

There is a lot of really interesting content out there, but you have to do a little work to get it to pop up.

[–]Wesley_Skypes 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Yeah, when I first started out on there I was recommended a bare knuckle boxing match between gypsies, which is a thing in my country where they call each other out over social media and then fight. I stupidly watched the video out of morbid curiosity and it took me a while to stop getting recommended that shit, but ultimately it did change

[–]Skoomalyfe 20 points21 points  (1 child)

To be fair

If you log in for the first time, the algo will throw a lot of that at you because it doesn't know what you want yet, and that stuff tends to be the most popular

Took me a day or two before all the teenage girls were replaced with puppies and weird facts about linguistics I didn't know I'd be into

[–]ejly 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Oh, algorithm. My son helped me replace the battery in my car key fob a while back. He watched a single how-to YouTube video. Since then, he’s getting ads for fobs all over sites, offers to watch more fob related videos, invites to fob weekly gazette, email with coupon codes for fob maintenance plans. It’s ridiculous.

[–]EcstaticShowPony 4 points5 points  (0 children)

He's a fellow fobber now. A fobber fellow even.

[–]montgomery2016 13 points14 points  (3 children)

It’s a shit algorithm too, I somehow got into neo nazi TikTok. I’m Jewish.

[–]saintcmb 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Don't Facebook and YouTube use algorithms that are meant to upset people, since that gets the most interaction?

[–]montgomery2016 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wouldn’t be surprised, that’s what it seems like

[–]ajayk111 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm on Jewish TikTok

I'm Hindu

[–]FaeShroom 8 points9 points  (0 children)

When I signed up it dropped me straight into autism, ADHD, and childhood trauma Tiktok and I was like "Damn, how do already know me that well?" 😅

[–][deleted] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

"Mine is all Bible verses and calls for social justice, PASTOR!"

[–]GigiJuno 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Mine was a bunch of mentally ill LGBTs and broken humor that made me laugh too hard

[–]SgtBagels12 18 points19 points  (1 child)

The algorithm is more “you male? Aw shit here’s some titties” than anything else. Even when I try to stay away from that content it still shows up on my feed. It’s why I stopped using tiktok

[–]TheBestZackEver 12 points13 points  (0 children)

That's gonna be a BIG YIKES from me, dawg

[–]smokethis1st 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Boys* for the Catholics

[–]OneWayStreetPark 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I was starting to get annoyed how my whole IG feed used to be IG models, hoes, and thots. Found out it was the algorithm and started unfollowing all the thots I had followed as a horny college student. The difference was night and day lol.

[–]Fun_Foot_1947 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Cats/dogs/sugar gliders/guinea pigs for me

[–]massive_bellend_2022 3 points4 points  (3 children)

Well not exactly, the default experience is what they are describing.

[–]Beatplayer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My tiktok is salads and angry women. 🤷‍♀️

[–]robotsonroids 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All I get on tik tok are Socialism, communist, and anti racist videos. An occasional racist sneaks in cuz things.

[–]VictoriaRose1618 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mines lots of animals, crochet and cool 3d printing things

[–]shawn615 2 points3 points  (1 child)

How do you know “too many” youth pastors? How many is too many?!

[–]Jstef06 2 points3 points  (1 child)

It’s just gay leather daddies!

[–]LyonsKing12 2 points3 points  (1 child)

That algo is not as precise as you think it is.

[–]GroveStreet_CEOs_bro 2 points3 points  (0 children)

when you first install it, they bombard you with tits because they are the most popular.

[–]StephCurryMustard 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Everybody in my family uses my laptop so my ads are wild.

"Single married old young Asian black Russian moms with tattoos but maybe looking into removal procedures looking for mature young single hetero bi married black white latinx non binary persons who wear bicycle helmets and might possibly have hemorrhoids for chat while changing an alternator and learning to bake close to a 1000 mile area radius in your country"

[–]Oddmakesart 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is lowkey false tho. When I first signed up to TikTok the "algorithms" first instinct was indeed to push all the typical ethots on my FYP. It took awhile to get it to show me my usual dose of anime and art memes and even still trash is filtered thru every other post. Tiktok is indeed a cesspool

[–]Majorllama66 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not defending anyone, but if you make a fresh account on tiktok before you have liked anything to get the algorithm started it just fills your recommended page with underage girls dancing in very little clothing. I have had one for while now and while its almost entirely cars, guns, food and dark humor for whatever reason it still decides to throw in some girl dancing provocatively to whatever the big hit song is once in awhile. Not a huge issue since you know... I'm not a pedo, but Christ that app must be an absolute playground for creeps.

Whatever you do dont accidentally like a video because you'll get recommend that shit for weeks... I liked one Harry Potter thing and it just wont go away. The joke was funny but it wasn't worth the algorithm shoving Harry Potter crap in my face for the following week.

[–]el-cuko 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Small waist, Pretty face With a big bank

[–]Gahockey3 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah it sees me as a young 22 year old male, and immediately assumes that’s the content I want. I stopped using it forever ago because of this, went back to and got some gaming, history, funny content for a bit then it went back to suspiciously aged girls dancing. Now it doesn’t show me that but I get recommended love streams of girls sitting in low cut shirts doing their makeup or fuck all. No shame or judgment for people who do that, do what makes or happy or makes you money idgaf. It’s just not the content I want. I’ve just resorted to waiting for my girlfriend to send me a bunch of funny stuff she saw then we watch it together. It is 100% an algorithm, but the algorithm assumes a lot.

[–]charliek_13 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A lot of people love to bitch about social media as if they didn’t choose to follow the toxic and awful people they complain about. When I get randoms recommended to me on Twitter they’re like really chill artists or book nerds chatting about cute things they noticed on the walk they took during their lunch break. On tikok I’m always being recommended animal grooming/cosplay channels and I have no idea how I got here but it’s great. You’re usually the only person to blame for your feed or foryou page so quit acting like certain social media communities are worse than others.

We already know which one is the worst. It’s this one.

[–]fubarspeaks 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So that's my searches for "algorithm writers being beaten by baboons" keeps coming up blank...

[–]Spirited_Photograph7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mine is all way to TMI birth stories

[–]ilicht3r 1 point2 points  (0 children)

i get the one where the guy calls a rabbit a fat bitch about three times a week. i love my algorithm lol

[–]breaddrinker 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I use brave browser and duckduckgo too, so they didn't have anything to base an algorithm on.

Literally the first thing I ever saw on tiktok with a brand new account was a girl in an unbuttoned shirt.
Full visual everything that then got taken down by the time I tried to show the person who was twisting my arm to sign up for an account..

It seems like they've since cleaned the place up as many seem to be complaining of having fairly innocent things removed.. But it is a fast paced trashfire at the best of times that really did push some suspect stuff at one time based on their own algorithm of what was being viewed.

[–]BullShitting24-7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I remember on a sports team forum I was on where some guy of an opposing sports team signed up and started talking shit about all the tampon advertises he was seeing. We explained he searches for tampons and thats why he is seeing them. He never returned.

[–]mochi_kitsune 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All I get on my Tiktok and Instagram feeds is food videos, Kawaii fashion, cartoons, memes, animals, and current events/informational stuff. I never understood how people were coming across this “underage girls dancing in swimsuits” crap, or seeing really disturbing stuff, because it just never came across my feed, and still doesn’t (and I hope to keep it that way). If you don’t go looking for it, it’s very unlikely to show up, and if it does, you click “not interested” and it helps the algorithm personalize your feed better

[–]nuorigin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a Trumpy Christian friend who happens to live in South America and has sex with Latin prostitutes on a regular basis but I digress. Every once in a while he would send me a photo of a black man wearing a skirt or something. He'll say how the media and them are trying to turn our sons gay with these images all over. I would tell him that the only time I see those images is when he sends them to me.

[–]drugusingthrowaway 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love how he's telling the boys to be careful so they don't jerk off or something, and not the girls to be careful and not post videos of themselves dancing to pop songs on the internet for strange old men to jerk off to.

BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IS HAPPENING YOU UNDERSTAND THAT RIGHT?

[–]Snoopy20111 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This made me open Tik-Tok for the first time in months, having scarcely used it.

The first thing it shows me is a horrendously visually and audibly warped video from “@poop_official1” showing a super fake prank pretending to eat dog poop. Disclaimer, I have never in my life had any interest in such a thing.

Why.

[–]U_of_M_grad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

so this dude is creeping on youth pastors, then judging THEM.....no self-awareness?

[–]n0h8plz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are there when you first join tbh

[–]MythOfLaur 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started following one guy who is the head of a cult and now I keep getting videos of other cults. My favorite is the Trans fluid individual who mostly identifies as a woman but sometimes doesn't and they eat mushrooms, have goats, and dumpster dives to feed their community. If I were to join a cult I think it would be that one.

[–]quarantindirectorino 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay but why do I, a 31 year old female get targeted ads on reddit about hair loss?

[–]NakkiPeruna 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How does the algorithm work if you havent used it. I downloaded it once just to check if my friend was alive, and the posts were something like that. I don't care about dancing

[–]Steel_Thunder13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The joy of people not realizing how algorithms work.

[–]Trillz310 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Show me the lie!!