How is Facebook Using Our Data? and Why Does It Track Users?
Whenever we get on a Facebook page or any other website and click the “like” button, the browsing activity of us is automatically gathered by a cookie tool, regardless of whether you are a member or a user of that site or not. It is believed that Facebook and other comparable sites achieve information via cookies which are small pieces of data sent from the website to track and record each activity the user takes on the internet and back to several months ago. Facebook, specifically, and after several problems with that case since they have been using it for five years, clarifies that expelling that tool off their site will decline the protection of its members and weaken the security. As soon as anyone gets on Facebook, even if not a member, that cookie which has a two-year lifespan gets called and installed on their browser. A spokeswoman said to BBC once "It is something which our security team believes is the best way to protect people's accounts,". The team of Facebook also says that this cookie assists in protecting the content of users from theft, restrain the creation of fake accounts, decrease the percentage of accounts being taken by other members or users, and lastly, stop distributed denial of service attacks. In addition to that, they claim that this cookie is not just associated with an individual or related to a specific person, it is associated only with browsers.
So Why Does Facebook Track Us?
Like any other social website, Facebook’s biggest achieved goal is advertising revenue. It is in fact, their largest source of income increasing from 45% to 78% on mobile ad sales. So why is Facebook good in advertising? Because Facebook is able to know the path of users and track their web-browsing habits, and eventually provides better advertising to targeted audience. Facebook had the opportunity to learn several lessons from previous mistakes they had done and that allowed them to understand that privacy is a major issue to its members, but it still did not stop them from gathering all the information they can. For that reason, privacy campaigners discuss that Facebook might need to be more honest to their users and explain what they are tracking and collecting off their accounts, and these campaigners are getting louder and larger groups by the day.
Big Data in Facebook
Due to the massive data Facebook is collecting, it has been one of the largest producers of big data, and it is continuing to grow day after day. Even though Facebook was created to keep the connection between people on social media and the internet so we can interact with friends, provide types of content and activities we enjoy the most, it still depends on famous algorithms to determine these relationships and predict which will be the most visible and shareable. So, how does it work? Facebook generally define the information of every member and tries to connect similar hobbies and interests to lead the group by presenting that information. It also tracks likes, shares, comments, your personal engagement and the time you usually spend on a single post. Other than individuals, Facebook also provides advertising services or sponsored posts that are based on features of user’s profiles. Besides that, it will probably try to gather your missing information on your profile such as the city you live in, your address and your education degree from your engagement activities. For example, if your friends live in New York City, and you attended several events in the city, it will try to confirm with you that you also live in the city.
I personally did not know that Instagram was owned by the same company of Facebook, so imagine that every photo you upload to your Instagram account or view through your profile will provide information to your Facebook account as well. It is creepy how all social media channels are now related somehow to get more and more data. Being aware of what we upload and post on social media is necessary for the sake of our privacy.
Sources:
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/facebook-your-data/
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