This is important information for everyone to know and understand. Your social media apps can use your data and give it to companies to send you more targeted ads. In some ways this is a good thing, but in other ways you should know what your options are when it comes to the apps on your phone. Yes, getting advertisements that you will like is nice, but sometimes it feels like it has gone too far, like your phone is listening to you.
Fun Fact…it’s not. It’s just taking all the information about you and trying to anticipate your next move before you even know what that move is. It’s scary knowing that this technology knows more about you than you do.
I come from the Instagram generation, so I wanted to understand what information this app has about me.
Upon doing some research, instagram is very forthcoming about what information is being used from our accounts. Trying to be open and honest might help build trust or may be a tactic.
They have access to our names and passwords which doesn’t come much of a surprise. They have access to our posts and the images shown, which actually does give information about who we are. So be careful about what is in your post. If you are posting a photo of you on the beach reading a book, you might get targeted ads for books similar to what you were reading.
The companies also have information on what posts you have liked and been tagged in.
And possibly the most personal information is your text message history, facial recognition data, geolocation data and address book contacts, like how they tell you when your contact has recently posted a new story.
It’s not just your data that shapes your ad feed. Instagram takes that information from a large group of users to utilizes and optimize when and where it shows you certain ads. Sometimes it comes a little too often and you can start to feel overwhelmed and annoyed at the same ads coming through your feed.
Instagram has always had account settings that allows you to control who can see and access your profile information.
From an online security company called Identity Guard, sometimes people unwittingly agree to share their photos and videos from their social media platforms. However, this information will have demographic details instead of more personal information.
If this sounds concerning…is it.
Instagram, like many other public companies, has had lawsuits and other legal issues that are inevitable. But recently the fines coming out about instagram are kind of concerning.
Reports from CNN Business found out that Instagram will be fined $401 million by the Ireland’s data protection regulator. This is for failing to adequately secure teenage users’ data in line with the General Data Protection Regulation. They violated not only some people’s personal information, but a teenagers who might not know what is really happening.
This is not acceptable. These apps are endangering young impressionable people. The world needs to protect the kids and teens on these apps.
Something very important to note is you can’t opt out of targeted advertising on Instagram, but a couple of tools can limit how the platform uses your data for ads.
On the Ad Preferences page, you’ll find six individual categories of settings. This sounds like you should be fully protected but that is simply not the case. Perception is everything.
How can we find a balance in this dilemma?
1. Age restriction on when your data can be sold, you should be a least 18 years old before your information is being used. Let be honest most companies shouldn’t want to target kids and teens anyways. That not the most profitable demographic.
2. When setting up the account the privacy settings are something made very clear before fully creating the account. Something that can’t easily be ignored or brushed over. It should be stated clearly and with detail so people can understand what they are trying to protect.
3. A check-in each year to see if anyone wants to change settings. People change and grow each year but might forget about privacy when it comes to that. If you have a baby you should be able to protect your information. Like a progress report.
4. Have the ability to limit and deny ads you have seen too much of or don’t fit in your alignment. You should also get to dictate what you are seeing, social media is a place to have a mental break and sometimes ads can hinder that.
5. Have simple surveys people can fill out that is clear and can help ad marketing without feeling like your information was stolen.
To make you feel any better after reading this…
Under the GDPR, to give you any piece of mind, there are some specific types of personal data that is not allowed to be shared. This includes your race, political beliefs, who you choose to love (Sexual orientation) and your health. Which is something I find hard to believe since politics is in so many areas of our lives now. But nonetheless, is a good start to really protecting people and who they are in their beliefs. I mean if instagram chooses to abide by those rules…
This is a situation that both sides, the companies and the consumers can play a part in, so you as a user need to understand what you are getting into and set your privacy settings accordingly.
In chapter 12 of The Marketing Campaign Playbook by Sharon Lee Thony, She talks about leveraging data and adapting to change. This is so interesting, I think in this world maybe companies don’t need as much information to make these advertising decisions. Technology has grown and changed so much over the past decade, we can make informed decisions with less data. That what artificial intelligence if for! Brands and Companies have to many new ways to reach and expand their audience maybe it’s about time to crack down on what information is being used by companies, instead of leaving it up to the user to figure out how to opt out of some (Not All) data shared about them.
Stay Safe Out There!
Levy It All To Me 