The Internet is Tracking Your Every Move
Have you ever researched a product and for the next week or so you see online ads for similar products of those you had viewed? Then you start to wonder how does this random website know that I was searching a product on a completely different website? The reality of today's advanced technology is that we are all a product being sold online.
Believe it or not, whenever we go on Facebook or Instagram our viewing habits are being monitored in order to determine our interests which is then analyzed to display certain related advertisements. So if you were to search a hashtag of a popular fast food restaurant, you would likely see advertisements for that restaurant or similar scrolling through your feed for the next few days. It seems a bit strange that they have the ability to detect your likes, but how does this all work?
Algorithmically Generating Content Platforms
When you watch a video on YouTube, chances are there's a "play next" column that will queue a video similar to your watch history as well as suggest several others. This encourages us to keep watching more videos that may interest us and that way the website gets more money by showing more ads throughout the video.
According to Pew Research Center, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms and the most popular for using algorithms. Most users don't understand why and how this occurs, while others are totally oblivious as to why the same car they bought last week is now being advertised in their feed. This may be frustrating when you have to deal with the annoying ads while the company sits back and makes money off your usage. But there's no way to prevent this as no one is safe from being tracked in the new age.
Although most seem unnecessary, some of them can be beneficial. We see this on social media when we have a suggested account based on who we follow, this can help to reconnect people and it has. But in this day and age, whether we like it or not, we are all a product being sold online
Work Cited
(Degui Adil/EyeEm via Getty Images). Pew Research Center, 13 Feb. 2019. Accessed
25 Nov. 2019.
Smith, Aaron. "7 Things We've Learned about Computer Algorithms." Pew Research
Center, 13 Feb. 2019. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.
Believe it or not, whenever we go on Facebook or Instagram our viewing habits are being monitored in order to determine our interests which is then analyzed to display certain related advertisements. So if you were to search a hashtag of a popular fast food restaurant, you would likely see advertisements for that restaurant or similar scrolling through your feed for the next few days. It seems a bit strange that they have the ability to detect your likes, but how does this all work?
Algorithmically Generating Content Platforms
When you watch a video on YouTube, chances are there's a "play next" column that will queue a video similar to your watch history as well as suggest several others. This encourages us to keep watching more videos that may interest us and that way the website gets more money by showing more ads throughout the video.
According to Pew Research Center, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms and the most popular for using algorithms. Most users don't understand why and how this occurs, while others are totally oblivious as to why the same car they bought last week is now being advertised in their feed. This may be frustrating when you have to deal with the annoying ads while the company sits back and makes money off your usage. But there's no way to prevent this as no one is safe from being tracked in the new age.
Although most seem unnecessary, some of them can be beneficial. We see this on social media when we have a suggested account based on who we follow, this can help to reconnect people and it has. But in this day and age, whether we like it or not, we are all a product being sold online
Work Cited
(Degui Adil/EyeEm via Getty Images). Pew Research Center, 13 Feb. 2019. Accessed
25 Nov. 2019.
Smith, Aaron. "7 Things We've Learned about Computer Algorithms." Pew Research
Center, 13 Feb. 2019. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.
You discuss how our information being gathered just seems like something we should get used to. But is that the attitude in all countries? Is there a danger to having our information tracked?
ReplyDeletewhat does this mean for the future of social media marketing?
ReplyDeleteThat social media can market to you based on your interests in many ways. They see your interests through monitoring your internet and social media habits and show you what ads/products you may be interested in. This helps make the app money, the advertising company pays the app to display their ad in hopes to make more money in the end. We're the ones behind the screen who are essentially controlling what happens. Sick of seeing car ads? Maybe you shouldn't have spent so much time looking for a new Camry.
DeleteIf Social Media is actually invading our privacy, then why don't more people know about this?
ReplyDelete