Sunday, December 15, 2013

Online Assignment 4&5_Kuelbs

When I was looking through my archives in Facebook, I was surprised to see how far back it went.  A lot of history went back to 2008, which means I would have been in seventh or eighth grade.  It's surprising to follow how my interests have changed since then.  Also, I realized that the ads on Facebook are also based on what you have listed as interests.  This explains a lot of the ads that come up.  Also, I have realized that I actually have deleted a lot more friends than I thought.  It was also weird to see who I've friend requested and who never accepted me.  Overall though, as far as pictures go, nothing was too surprising because I edit my albums a lot on Facebook.  I also realized that I did not have many "events" to attend on Facebook before I went to college.  The majority of my events have been from the past year.
I thought the Google information was maybe even more interesting.  They had a lot right about me, like interested in college-related activities.  It also had a lot of information about the types of music I listen to.  Most of it was right, but it was heavy on Brazilian music.  It isn't that I listen to a ton of Brazilian music, but I have been in a Brazilian music class, which explains why I have been searching for it so much on Google and Youtube.  Also, it listed one of my languages as Portuguese, which is also only because I've been on a lot of websites in Portuguese because of the class.
I think the significance of going through this information is that whatever you are searching for online is always being analyzed.  Even if you spend a lot of time researching something that isn't directly related to your personal interests or life, this information is always being sought by advertisers.  This means that information about you is stored, even if it isn't exactly relevant to your life.  Also, I think it's important to note that there is a large history behind Internet users, especially on Facebook.  For many young people, who got their Facebook accounts young, this means that this information is with them for their whole lives online.  I think this is important to note because we should teach younger children to be mindful about what they post - so it doesn't come back to haunt them later.  However, this is difficult because many children don't see this as relevant to their lives immediately.

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