Pranking My Roommate with Eerily Targeted Facebook Ads (2014)

ghostinfluence.com

53 points·colinprince··10 comments

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Hah, woke up to a ping about a surge in my website traffic. Thanks for submitting OP!

OP of the Facebook Ads Prank here, AMA.

This is one of my all time favorite blog posts.

I read that it's no longer possible to micro target ads in this way. Is it accurate or are there still ways to do it?

PS: The link at the bottom of the page says that "This typeform is private" http://www.ghostinfluence.com/register

The general framework is still possible; small groups, not individuals.

Here's a guide for how I've been using the strategy since 2014:

https://mythos.one/brianswichkow/d2a91e

Thanks for letting me know about the dead link!

Would it still work if you use the method in the edit?

For targeting an individual, not likely. Though I haven't tried it in some time.

Though—since publishing this—I've had meaningful wins with campaigns targeting 20-50 person audiences so as to convert B2B sales, secure venture capital, etc.

Knowing exactly what you want/need and who from your intend to acquire it makes the social engineering aspect much simpler to accomplish.

Needs a (2014) in title.

Added. Thanks!

Now you can do this on most sites, not only Facebook. Google Adsense has a Customer Match [1] feature that allows you to target ads to the list of emails or phones so it opens new possibilities for digital stalking.

[1] https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/7474263

more of a human interest story than a technical breakdown of any kind... the kind of story i don’t come to HN for.

but i loved it. well played indeed.

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