Social Media and Our Data

Many of us have probably noticed how our browser history is creepily being monitored and pops up on our social media apps like Facebook and Instagram. What many of us might not know, is how much data Facebook is collecting from us and leveraging it for their own advertising benefit. In 2016 alone, Facebook made over $6 Billion just from advertising and they are growing rapidly.

As consumers and Facebook users, we have always been curious as to HOW these applications know what we are looking at (i.e. websites and products) and frankly how annoying it is to constantly have to be reminded of things that we are thinking about purchasing. When you think about it, they are using our history to convince us to make these purchases subconsciously.

Furthermore, not only are they collecting data on our browser history to persuade our purchasing habits, but they are also using this data to create predictive algorithms from our interests. This is called a complete consumer profile. This essentially means that they can monitor our search trends to predict products and services that we might be interested in, and sell this access to companies.

This short video gives a summary of how Facebook ads are created and used to target users:

Many engineers agree, isn’t this extremely invasive? According the Washington Post:

“But while both the dashboard and the dropdown will rid you of ads you don’t like, neither actually lets users opt out completely of any of Facebook’s four tracking methods. The preferences manager, for instance, lets users tell Facebook they don’t have certain interests that the site has associated with them or their behavior, but there’s no way to tell Facebook that you don’t want it to track your interests, at all.”

Not only is it extremely invasive but ultimately anyone who wants to advertise with Facebook can have access to your information. Facebook makes an average of $18.68 on cost per action across all industries. This social media platform is the largest in the world and companies know that. It makes them the perfect advertising tool. It is reported that 57% of consumers say social media influences their shopping, leading by Facebook at 44%. Is it ethical that Facebook is partnering with companies to use our own data against us?

With a technology-centric society, we urge you to really think about and educate yourselves on how much data we are giving to companies like Facebook.

Questions:
1.  Is it even possible to get a company like Facebook to stop collecting our information if we don’t want them to?

2.  What can be some unforeseeable risks in the future of Facebook having this data on us?

3. Do you feel that using your browser history to influence purchases is ethical?

References:

98 Personal Data Points that Facebook Uses to Target Ads to You

This is How Facebook Uses Your Data for Ad Targeting

Facebook, Google and Others are Tracking You. Here's How to Stop Targeted Ads

Facebook Statistics for 2018