The internet knows everything about you

The biggest gifts that our generation has are the advancements in technology and it is the IT world that has brought this physical world closer than ever with unprecedented speed. This became possible because of social networking.

Social media seems to be everywhere these days. Though the days of social media pioneer Myspace are now long gone, we’re constantly hearing about trending topics on Twitter, laughing at social media fails and many people are obsessive about keeping up with their Facebook news feed.

Even if Facebook and Twitter aren’t for you, there’s still blogging, Vine, Snapchat and even LinkedIn, among many others. Even businesses have recognised the value of social media for connecting with customers and selling their product, as well as quickly updating users about problems affecting their service.

Social media has become a major factor in the world. For many of us, it is how we keep up with what our friends are up to, even if they’re on the other side of the planet. It has also played a big part in world events.

Twitter was used to organise protests and report on events during the Arab Spring, for example. On a more shallow note, Twitter is a great way to keep up with what your favourite celebrities are up to – as long as they don’t just use it to Instagram pictures of their lunch.

If we’re honest, most of us use social media for less than upright purposes ourselves. We use it to show off our holidays and what adventures we have planned for the weekend. Almost everyone presents an idealised version of themselves on social media, whether by detagging unflattering photos or implying their life is more exciting and glamorous than it really is.

But the big question here is - is social networking really a boon or bane? While it has both sides, the expert advice is social networking is not wrong but the way it is being used is important. Its importance keeps increasing when these platforms are collecting more and more information about you from the crumps of data that you are leaving.

So how best to celebrate Social Media Day? The answer is obvious! Let your networks know and spread the knowledge. Start a hashtag, upload a photo, update your status. You certainly won’t be alone as social media is still spreading like wildfire all over the world.

While social networking sites provide incredible amount of value addition to us, it’s important to be aware of what we are sharing and how it is used against/towards us. Be in control of your data. All these platforms help you to know the amount of data they collected on you and you can choose to release that information or not.

Be aware and take advantage of this setting. Happy and safe networking!

So, what does the internet know about you…
• All search engines including the ones in social media sites, know what you are searching, from where and when. This information is used to help improve search results; it’s often used to target ads.
• We give our names, gender and age for social media sites, and it’s sold to advertisers (may not be your name). Facebook and other sites are getting smarter to figure the real you even when if you provide wrong information.
• Facebook knows when you are vulnerable, or when you are having trouble expressing your moods. They make a comprehensive decision on what you might be thinking.
• Google knowns where, when and how fast you are travelling, with or without android phone. It’s used to optimise traffic trends but, it’s often not in knowledge of users.
• The social media sites have a good understanding of where you work, where you live and where your family lives. It’s deduced from the geo-tagging of the photos that you took.
• Social sites, specifically Facebook know what kind of a shopper you are. It has a pretty good understanding of your taste, including your money habits.
• YouTube knows what videos you’ve been watching and even what you’ve searched for across devices.
• Data brokers know vulnerable consumers based on the amount of information they shared and consumed. This data is intern is used to target offers in the form of ads.
• Facebook knows how intelligent you are, how satisfied you are with your life, and whether you are emotionally stable or not – simply based on a big data analysis of the ‘likes’ you have clicked.
• Your social logins across apps and platforms are used to target content/ads across all those platforms. These apps can access your microphone, camera etc to record what’s going on around while in usage.