12/9/18
Do you ever wonder why on Instagram ads of interest to you often pop up? Well, not to scare you, but you are in a way being targeted. All of your information is in the app, your history and interests, everything you do on the app is information for the company. So, those ads that you constantly see are directed to you based off of all of your personal information. Essentially, this is data mining. These ads are specific to you to break through of all the advertisement clutter in hopes to break through to you.
I even researched this topic to see if I am going crazy about these ads that somehow apply to me. I went to the Instagram site and this is what they said, "We want to show you ads from businesses that are interesting and relevant to you, and to do that, we use information about what you do on Instagram and Facebook (our parent company) and on third-party sites and apps you use." In a way this is a disclaimer, however does anybody really see that? People do not know that their information is being used in a way to get them to become the ultimate consumer. We have become targets. We have simply become facts including demographics and psychographics on a computer. It is almost like we are in an inescapable bubble of advertisements.
Supposedly, this strategy is effective. By pinpointing your interests, you are presented with products that appeal to you. You are bombarded with products that apply directly to you. I feel that your social media is a place where you can do what you want, a free space for you. Ideally, that is what it should be. But advertising really diminishes this idealistic world. People must open their doors to politician's narrowcasting trying to pull you into their campaign, or on any form of social media you are met with various ads. I think that advertisers are changing their tactics and reshaping them so that support can be gained or products can be sold, even if it is by hooking in one individual at a time.
Companies or advertisers understand that broadcasting just doesn't cut it anymore. People have so many different views that is too hard to reach a large group of people. You must be reached individually. The way others interpret something is most likely different from how you perceive something. A point I think we must recognize however is that the companies do not care about you as pessimistic as it may sound. Instagram tries to make it seem like they care about you, providing you with "relevant ads to you", however they are just running a business. These companies want your support or money, not you directly.
This technique of advertising will not just go away. So, I think it is very important to look at the impact of this. What happens when every person is singled out just to appeal to them? The divide within people already exists, but advertisers are essentially taking a sledge hammer and pounding this line of divide deeper than it has ever been before. When all we can see is our differences of our interests, values, or opinions we become more separated. Instead of coming together as a species, we are forced apart by companies. We are looked at as information on a screen rather than the person that we are. Sure, narrowcasting is a more effective technique. But the affects on our society is so much more important than anything else. People matter more than money. But to companies you are essentially an object they are trying to manipulate. This divide will only keep growing due to these advertisers.
Sources:
https://help.instagram.com/173081309564229
I always thought this was an exaggeration or fake but it is really not. I think this is so scary because the internet automatically creates this profile of you that they use to their advantage. They never have to see you or meet you, they can just observe your behavior without you realizing it. This is such an invasive way to advertise, more than anything we saw in persuaders. -Gaby Arguello
ReplyDeleteI too did not think that data mining was a widespread thing until recently, and it is surprising to me how all of these companies can simply get away with what is essentially an invasion of our privacy, in order to market something better. It is worrying because all of our information can be seen by other people and we can't do anything about it.
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