By How Personal Is Your Personal Life?
How much do you value your personal information? No matter how hard you try, your secret information is nothing in today’s world. Anyone can buy your private information for a small amount of money, even buying as much as they need.
Who is Buying it? Why are they Buying it? Where are they Getting it from?
Suppose I have a product that I want to sell but I don’t have a specific store. I decided to sell the product through social media platforms since in today’s world everyone is connected to social media in some way.
I give some dollars to a certain social media platform and say that I have a product and I want to show this product in the form of an advertisement to some people of a certain profession, gender, age, and certain mentality who like this type of product or who currently have this product.
Then, deliver the product in the form of an advertisement to those people according to your criteria. My chosen social media platform did the trick. Maybe this ad has been shown to you.
Now think, how do these social media platforms know your likes, dislikes, your current needs, age, gender, religion, etc.?
Simply put, you yourself have given this information to social media!
When and how did you give it?
When you create an account on a certain platform, you provide most of your information voluntarily, such as (name, age, religion, address, phone number, email).
User-Provided Information:
- Profile Data: When you create an account, you provide information like your name, age, gender, location, and interests.
- Posts and Updates: The content you share, such as photos, status updates, check-ins, and comments, offers insights into your daily activities, preferences, and lifestyle.
And when you installed that social media app, it asked for permission to access your camera, microphone, location, and gallery of your phone, and you gave permission by clicking “yes, I agree” according to all the conditions.
Also, these factors are responsible for monitoring your personal data:
Device and Location Data:
- Geolocation: Social media apps often have access to your device’s location services, allowing them to track your movements and frequent locations.
- Device Information: Details about the device you use (e.g., smartphone, tablet) and your operating system can be collected.
- Cookies: Small data files stored on your device help track your activity across different websites, allowing social media platforms to build a profile of your interests.
- Third-Party Trackers: Social media platforms use third-party services to gather additional data about your online behavior.
Interaction with Other Apps and Services:
- App Integrations: When you link your social media account to other apps (e.g., fitness trackers, e-commerce platforms), data from these apps can be shared with the social media platform.
- Login Information: Using social media accounts to log into other services allows platforms to track your activity on those services.
From then on, they can monitor your every move. Then there is the algorithm system of that particular social media platform.
What types of content do you like to watch, what types of content do you spend a lot of time on, and what types of content annoy you? They do all the calculations through that algorithm.
Engagement Metrics:
- Likes, Comments, and Shares: These interactions help platforms understand what content you find engaging.
- Time Spent: The amount of time you spend on certain types of content (e.g., videos, articles) indicates your interests.
Behavioral Tracking:
- Browsing History: Social media platforms track the links you click, the pages you visit, and the ads you interact with.
- Search Queries: Your search history on the platform can reveal your interests and intentions.
Through this, they also get an idea about your likes and dislikes. If you discuss with someone about something you want to buy, after a while you will see it also coming in front of you, because you have given them your microphone access. If you show immediate interest in a product, that information also gets to their algorithm system.
And also:
Social Network Analysis:
- Friends and Connections: Your interactions with friends and the networks you build can provide insights into your social circles and interests.
- Groups and Communities: The groups you join and the events you attend are indicative of your hobbies and lifestyle.
This is why they get a clear idea of what you want to buy. And take this information from you and sell it to someone else.
Starting from this data collection, all parts of the data process are completed through data science, AI & ML.
Machine Learning and AI:
- Data Analysis: Advanced algorithms analyze all the collected data to predict behaviors, preferences, and trends.
- Personalization: AI systems use this data to tailor content, ads, and recommendations to your specific interests.
By combining these various data points, social media platforms create detailed profiles of their users, which they use for targeted advertising, personalized content, and enhancing user engagement.
