A Prediction of Myself through Predictive Analytics

I primarily notice being targeted by companies when engaging in online shopping. After purchasing a particular item, the website will suggest a similar item that I might be interested in. However, the irony is that usually I am not shopping for myself, but for a family member or a friend. This leads to the website suggesting an item that I am actually not interested in at all, for example, the suggestion of a Star Wars themed waffle maker in response to buying Darth Vader socks for my boyfriend. This addresses the idea that your online identity is not necessarily representative of your real identity. This could lead to companies and employers drawing inaccurate conclusions about prospective applicants. This is unfair to the individual because their data, rather than their actions, is defining who they are. In contrast, during the rare times that I am online shopping for myself, I do enjoy the suggestions that the website provides. It is definitely a great marketing strategy, as I am likely to click on the suggestion and spend more money. This leads me to wondering: could companies track what price range your spending falls into and determine your financial status? Could they determine whether you really need that promotion because your surplus spending implies that you are financially secure? These are interesting glimpses into the analysis of online profiles. Another interesting perspective would be the angle of politics. If a democrat campaign company sees that I am liking/sharing a lot of liberally oriented articles on Facebook, it will advertise its candidate to me. Knowing I am already liberally minded, that company would assume they have a heavier influence over me.

This unit on predictive analytics has definitely made me more aware of the data that I am putting out into cyberspace, but it doesn’t really motivate me to make my output less obvious. This is due to a slight sense of apathy and also the occasional benefits I receive from big data tracking. For example, Netflix is another company that caters to my online presence, as it advertises shows it thinks I will have a proclivity towards. This usually ends in me finding a great show that suits my interests perfectly. Can’t complain there.

I didn’t really discover anything new about my online presence from Google takeout, as most of the data was coming from my documents on Google drive. This was from projects and schoolwork in the past. I had never inputted any info into “Calendar” and I only had a few bookmarks. The main thing that companies could glean from this data would be that I am a student and I use Google Drive during group projects because it allows us to edit the work together.