Online Assignment 4-5_Ryan Wenberg

Ryan Wenberg

12/10/13

J201 Sec. 310           

Online Assignment 4-5

When beginning this assignment, I expected it to be like the VALS assessment of me where they got all of the key information wrong. I was honestly shocked to see how close they were to what I believe are my interests. I will say however that Google was much more exact. They had narrowed it down to twenty-eight slightly broad subjects that they gathered I was interested in based on my searches. Almost all of them I agreed with aside from a few subjects that were clearly more related to me having to Google how to fix my electronics. Facebook seemed to be all over the place with the things they kept track of in terms of my interest. They seemed to have a million different key words to use when assigning ads to my account; some of them were related to things I actually was interested, but the rest were just segments of things that could only be related to something as insignificant as a post that I liked once three years ago. The vast amount of information that these two companies have about me is sickening, yet not surprising. In the digital society, I spend most of my time between these two websites. Google is my go to when I need to know or find anything and everything and Facebook is where I interact with my friends and family. These two cites should have all this information on me simply because I spent years developing these portfolios myself. The problem I face with it is the fact that this information that is supposed to be private is shared with advertisers. I look at it as the same as a doctor selling your personal medical records with pharmaceutical companies so they can sell us medication. It’s morally wrong in my opinion because Google and Facebook have developed into such a private industry when you look at how they are used; yet none of the information is private anymore now that it is being sold to the highest bidder. This new information actually is making me think that I need to be more careful about what I put out into the World Wide Web. While I don’t believe I have ever been fooled into buying anything from one of these advertisements, an article from the New York Times that was one of required reading states that 97% of internet users interact with just one of these online ad companies in any given month (Singer, 2012). That astonishes me and makes me think that while I do not feel that I am giving out any information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands, I feel as if I should tone it down and play it safe after this exploration.

Singer, N. (2012, November 17). Your Online Attention, Bought in an Instant. Your Online Attention Bought in an Instant by Advertisers. Retrieved December 10, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/technology/your-online-attention-bought-in-an-instant-by-advertisers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Online Assignment 4-5_Cordero

The results I found after downloading my information from Facebook and from Google were far from surprising. Each source had a large series of keywords that were directly related to the types of interests I had. Based on the websites I have visited, Google cited Arts & Entertainment, Classical Music, Computers & Electronics, Crafts, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias, Education, File Sharing & Hosting, Games, Jazz, Metal (Music), Movies, Music & Audio, Music Streams & Downloads, Music Videos, News, Photos & Image Sharing, Rock Music, Standardized & Admissions Tests, TV & Video, TV Comedies, and Urban & Hip-Hop as my main categories. After reading through this list, it was apparent to me that Google accurately identified most of if not all of my main interests based on websites I've visited in the past. I'm a little bit surprised that politics and science were not included in this list, but I suppose that those can be included in "Dictionaries & Encyclopedias" and "News". Their focus on music was their most accurate observation considering that music is my primary interest/hobby. As fascinating as it seems that Google knows so much about my personal interests just by basing it off of my Internet history, this calls into question how Google or maybe even government organizations might be handling my information. I can't help but wonder if the government might try to use this information against me one day or use it somehow infringe upon my basic inalienable rights or invade my privacy. It might not seem like a profound issue right now, but I fear that there are many dire implications of this fact for when the future arrives in terms of privacy infringement. I was truly taken aback at how dense my Facebook information was/is. Virtually every action I've performed on Facebook was documented in that .zip file. Almost nothing was left out. It was actually pretty interesting being able to look at all of messages, wall posts, likes, friends (present and removed), pokes, etc. in what's essentially an archive of my Facebook activity. The most awe-inspiring list was that of the "Ads Topics" section, in which an exhaustive list of keywords including #Asphyx, #Wacken Open Air, #Looney Tunes, #Technical death metal, #Fried chicken, #Mass Effect 3, and #Jessica Alba were named. In contrast to Google, Facebook was much more specific about my interests by naming specific bands, people, games, and so forth. It was pretty fascinating to see such an exhaustive archive of all of my Facebook activity without actually having to go on Facebook, but a question similar to my previous one about Google was raised about how this information was being used. Someone could easily use this information to market specific products to me or even invade my personal life, but it reminded me about being smart about which types of information one should post on Facebook. It is imperative that no overly personal information should be made public for protection from identity theft or equally disastrous issues. Because technology  is becoming so integrated into people's lives and therefore making the world more globalized, the effects of technological determinism and the digital society are especially apparent in Facebook's existence (Wells, Week 14, Monday 2013). Modern technology operates more like a network as opposed to a broadcast. People across the globe are interconnected through common interests, beliefs, and ideas and are feeding each other information rather than a single hub acting as the main locus of communication. Facebook's information download feature suggests that social media is becoming more personalized and tailored to individual interests. Advertisers therefore have an advantage in targeting specific customers for their products and users of social media can easily find others with similar interests, beliefs, and ideas such as politics, music, television, books, religion, and sports.

J201 Online Assignment 4/5_Pat Rose

Patrick Rose

Section 310

12/14/13

Online Assignment #4-5

            The first aspect of social media that I looked at was Facebook. Looking back, I laughed hysterically at my message, timeline and photo comment history. I was particularly intrigued by my lack of grammatical structure and “unique” word selection that I chose in my conversations with people. The frequent use of “k” and “cuz” seem very childish now, but less than five years ago that was the common variation of communication between social circles. Additionally, Facebook used to have the option of posting a status and it always started with “is”. For example, one of my statuses said “Pat Rose is tired cuz it was a long day”. Although this was the common method of knowing what people were doing, it seems very confusing as to why “is” was the standard model of Facebook statuses. In terms of ad history, most of the information that is logged of my activity feels outdated. The “Ad Topics” that they claim to have of me are very spread out and random which most likely means I must have accidentally clicked on an ad or two and thus they recorded that information.

            On the other hand, when looking at the history log that Google has recorded of my activity, I found that Google was much more accurate and concise in their display of my media and social record. Instead of a list of about fifty different ad topics that Facebook had recorded of my activity, Google had a much simpler list of about twenty interests that I have. However, the topics that were included in my Google interests were much broader compared to the Facebook list which may also be attributed to more developed search engine and a more concentrated area of the web in comparison to Facebook.

            When reflecting on my digital society experience, I found it particularly interesting in the idea that all of my activity within the digital society has been recorded by something. I’m not exactly sure if this is a good thing or bad thing but it did provide me with a laugh or two. As far as my personal communication development, I have seen a major improvement in the way that I communicate with others. Whether using more mature grammatical structure or eliminating previously immature wording (i.e. k, aight, cuz, etc.), I have learned to avoid as much confusion as possible when trying to communicate with others through Facebook. In addition, I grew to learn not to trust everything on Facebook in regards to people’s individual lives and daily lifestyles as back in the day Facebook was almost seen as a “tracking device” for people’s daily activities. Currently, I tend to minimize my use of facebook and try to limit my conversations with people to minimal exchange of information or sharing of web links. Overall, I find the development of social media to be extremely interesting and can only imagine the future generations of social communication. 

Online Assignment 4/5 _Alvarado Silverman

Looking at the information that Facebook had on me was honestly somewhat anticlimactic. From how Professor Wells described it I was kind of expecting them to know my home address and the name of my first dog, or some other sort of crazy information. All the information they had on me was pretty predictable, such as the pages I like, photos I've uploaded or been tagged in, and any other information that I knowingly have them. I'm also not surprised that Facebook uses my information for advertising purposes. Ever since i started using Facebook, I've noticed advertisements on the site that relate to things I've searched on the internet. What was interesting about finding my information on Facebook was how easy it was. It was cool to see that I can bring up so much about myself in just seconds.
Google was somewhat more interesting than Facebook. I never use my Google account, so besides basic information such as gender or age, all the information they had on me was based on my search history. The amount of information they gathered from my search history did not surprise me, but the fact that they were able to realize my interests based on this history was impressive. Although not all the interests were correct, most were. They knew i liked sports, especially Football, Basketball and Soccer. They knew I really liked music, and even knew I specifically liked Hip-Hop a lot. This was more interesting to me than Facebook because while they both knew a lot of information about me, Google seemed to apply this information much better than Facebook did.
Although the fact that my information is readily available online did not surprise me, I think this exercise helped me realize just how simple it could be for someone to learn about me now that we are living in a digital society. In some ways this is cool, as it becomes easier to know someone than before, but in some ways it is also scary, because people with bad intentions have easier access to your personal life.

Online Assignment 4-5_Rosenberg

            So I should first start by saying that I had no idea I could access that much information on Facebook about myself. I figured that the site would have a lot of my info, but the fact that it is all available so easily is pretty neat (and I guess the way it should be). Downloading all of my history from the site was actually somewhat nostalgic—scrolling through so many past events and points in my life that have been documented on Facebook is actually kind of cool.  That is one of the main things I have realized Facebook will be good for in years to come. I don’t think a lot of our generation realizes it, but it is an amazing archive. Imagine showing your kids your own Facebook some day? Tracking back to when you were their age—assuming the site is still up and running and hasn’t fallen to a new competitor. The information that Facebook had on me was pretty predictable. Everything from all of my absurd page likes in 2009, to my most recent link shares and uploaded photos. I don’t see why they would not have a record of all of that information. I would imagine most large websites keep archives of all their information—companies like Amazon probably document purchases, so I can see why Facebook documents its users. I guess the one aspect that represents Web 2.0 in all of its glory is Facebook’s ability to keep track of all of my possible ad pages. The site looks at all of my interests and likes and correlates them to possible advertisements. This is crucial for Facebook’s hunt to earn capital, so I understand why they must do it. Web 2.0 relies on user-generated content, so in a lot of ways the only way to make money for these social networking sites is through advertisements. While we are uncomfortable with the idea that we are targeted by advertisers based on our interests and likes, unfortunately that is the way it has to be. Web 2.0 is definitely a give-take relationship—because we have access to so much free content, companies must make revenue some way.

            Google was a bit of a different story. While Google is a huge search engine and has the ability to collect loads of data on its users and their searches, it seemed apparent to me that the information recorded on me was not nearly as vast as that of Facebook’s. I recently created a “Google Plus” account, and I really do not have much content on it—other than the nine friends I will video chat with. Because of this I do not spend a whole lot of time on the account. The new model Google went with in creating that profile kind of seems to mirror Facebook a bit, and because of that I think it might be in the shadow of F.B for a while.

            The information recorded on me I think goes to show that I am pretty active in this information age of the digital society. Most of my likes and interests are very public, and because of this your average user (and advertiser) probably has a basic idea of what I like and am most likely to like. The idea does not really bother me at the moment. I understand the layout of Web 2.0 and kind of appreciate the model.

Online Assignments 4&5_Isaac Ama

Upon first hearing about this assignment, I was quite intrigued. The concept of companies keeping track of my every move on the web is a bit worrisome, but not shocking. Before discovering the things this assignment has shown me, I was sure that any website I created an account with would keep track of me to at least some degree, but the fact that they use it to plan advertisements, and the extent to which they do so was a little surprising.

For example, I didn't know Facebook keep an archive for each person other than what you can see on your page. Despite not having known about the archive at first, I am not shocked by any of the information they have. There is nothing on there that I have not in some way provided them with. They have the information on there that I uploaded myself, and they have kept track of things that I have done on that page (i.e pages I've liked, photos I've uploaded, friends I've added or deleted, etc.). I find it a little annoying that these websites use the information they attain for advertising purposes, but I expected it more from Facebook. I find it less strange that they would do this, because I give them information on my interests. I blatantly tell them what I'm interested in on my page, based on what things I "like", and so on. Google on the other hand, hardly has any direct information from me.

I never actually use my Google account. All that I have actually given them is my age and gender. The rest of the information that they have attained has been by tracking my searches and speculating at my interests. I find this a bit more invasive, because it keeps track of what I do almost unknowingly. I'm not often logged into my Google account, so what they have kept track of is hardly even accurate to my actual interests. The fact that Google keeps track of my searches to try and develop an idea of what I'm interested in to help with advertising is kind of disturbing to me. It makes me realize that in the realm of the Internet privacy doesn't really exist. Someone is always keeping track of what you're doing somehow.

On Facebook, the interests that they have about me are fairly accurate, because I tell them that I like it, but with Google it's all speculation. On Facebook I can unlike a page, but I can't un-search something on Google. Things that I may have searched a few times only, or things that I search for a class project will get added to speculated interests, when in reality that may not be the case at all. In my opinion, Facebook by far keeps track of these things better, and it's seemingly more acceptable for them to keep tabs as well.

All in all, nothing much surprised me about the fact that these sites keep tabs on interests to try and aim advertising, but the way they do so and how much they keep track of can be unnerving at times. Despite all of that, the easiest way to avoid worrying about it is just be careful about how you use these sites and their keeping tabs will hardly matter at all.

Online Assignment 4&5_CHO

Growing up in the digital age, most people have heard of the capabilities that some companies have to keep track and record your data usage. I have been taught to be weary of my digital footprint since I was a kid. I remember my middle school would conduct online awareness meetings in conjunction with the police in the grand old days of Myspace to teach us that everything we post or put up online is there forever and recorded. I can only say that seeing for myself firsthand of the records Facebook and google keep on me is an eye opening experience. I was not aware of the extent to which my web surfing and social network activity has been recorded. Google and Facebook have very different data recording techniques which are interesting.

                Google has an interesting perspective on who I am from a digital perspective because almost all my web surfing starts at the google search platform. With this ability to observe my search history as well as my web surfing tendencies google has ample amounts of data to make fairly personal inferences on who I am in real life. The ad settings page of google produced some interesting and sometimes entertaining inferences on me. Google inferred I was a male which is accurate and makes me think what information they base this assumption on. I was placed in the twenty five to thirty four age bracket. This is almost accurate, being nineteen years old; I am in the age bracket just under this one. Google made the inference that I speak English as well as Russian. I found this assumption particularly amusing because what data led to this information? I speak English and Korean, not Russian, and to the best of my memory I do not browse or search Russian news frequently. The interests category depicts me accurately and I can clearly see the connection between my search tendencies and determining my “interests”. The list contains 39 specific interests which for the most part I am interested in. I thought this would be useful to advertisers as potential specialized advertisements directed to me and my specific interests. The data that google has accumulated on me have no direct effect on me directly because there is not much use of this data beyond advertising; however, the general issue of online privacy is a worrisome issue especially going into the future.

                Facebook maintained an elaborate database containing all of my pictures and general activity on the social networking site. This was less shocking to me because I was always aware of Facebook’s data compiling methods. Again it becomes more real seeing all the data records of you in front of your eyes. Ultimately being able to observe what large corporations do with your personal information makes me think twice before posting or commenting and my overall online activity.