Have you ever seen those annoying ads that pop-up on Facebook? And have you ever wondered why those ads are specifically targeted to you in some way? For example from my experience, I will often see advertises of online female clothing shops, shoes shops, university advertisements or bookshops with special discounts for students on the side of my Facebook newsfeed. I used to be surprised to the fact that they know that I’m a student and a woman who enjoys buying new shoes and cloths. But then I realised that I was on Facebook, a site that I provided them with all the data they know. My name, age, gender, occupation or even what I’m interested in.
Therefore is it ok for Facebook to collect its users’ information and share it to other companies? For advertising purposes it may not be an extreme issue for me because as Facebook claimed that they don’t use personal information such as your name or contact details. Instead they use data from what you share and like and demographic data such as your age, gender, location and interests. Facebook further declared that it would help them provide more relevant ads for us. In a business point of view it’s also an advantage for the companies.
But most importantly I think it depends on how much we expose ourselves on the online world. According to Almeida (2012, p. 5) the online privacy issues are a large problem to our society. Yet many individuals still continue to post personal information on their social networks. Furthermore, the author claimed that “the more we live online, the more others will know about us” (Almeida 2012, p. 6). However, these issues don’t only apply to the public but governments are also being challenged, for example by WikiLeaks. Therefore, I think the best way to prevent online privacy issues is to always be aware of the information that you provide to these social media sites. Personal contact details such as phone numbers and addresses shouldn’t be seen by everyone on the Internet. And lastly, is to be aware with accepting the policy terms that not many people read when they first sign in to a social network. It may be very long and may require a couple of minutes to read through but it’s safe to know where your information would end up. By the end of the day it’s up to you whether you choose to have your profile seen just by your friends or the public.
Reference:
Advertising and Facebook Content
Very true, i also believe that its up to you as an individual to control what you share about yourself on the net.
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