Predictive Analytics
Thinking about predictive analytics in terms of applying my own personal data, I can imagine a variety of businesses and non-profits that would target me based on many of the things I search and do on the Internet. Specifically, I think about retailers and other websites that sell things such as clothes and accessories. I am often on the website Revolve Clothing and notice that later that day an exact item I had been looking at will appear as an ad on Facebook. Depending on certain things I have “liked” on Facebook, I have noticed that predictive analytics is used to analyze this and generate ads or links to videos that I might be interested in. I often “like” or “share” posts and/or videos of animals which could easily make me a target for non-profits such as the SPCA and others.
My reaction to the possibility of being specifically targeted online was honestly slightly changed by reading this article. Thinking about not being able to view important information that is essentially “hidden” from me by the technique of filtering doesn’t sound very ideal. I have definitely noticed trends in the ads and videos Facebook and other sites show me. Ever since I started taking this course, I have been extra aware of the ads I am shown while browsing through Facebook, and I take notice to whether or not I feel like the ads are being catered specifically to me. I guess I was not aware of the extent these filter bubbles can block us from information we might want to be seeing.
I didn’t get too much valuable information from my Google archive, but I also a bit confused about how to view all the data. I’m assuming this will be cleared up in class. I was able to tell from my Youtube history that I search mostly for songs on the site. I could easily be targeted by businesses trying to sell concert tickets based on this information. I did not choose to view my personal search history.
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I know exactly what you mean. I was so in the dark about all of this before taking this class. I think we kind of notice that the different search engines remember what we’ve searched for, but I never thought it was on this kind of scale. It also brings up an interesting question for me: “How do they not know about these crazy people, who randomly go on killing sprees?” I feel that if all this information is readily available, it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out.
The data that these companies may not be trying to cater to you specifically. Most times they may use some of your data as a reference to people like you. the ads that you are being shown may not be catered to you specifically. Rather the ads may be formatted in a way that pacifies the most people according to the trend.
In reference to Kate’s comment, you’d think we’d be able to stop killers and people planning attacks based on their online presence wouldn’t you? But knowing all our data is collected is one thing, but when that data is analyzed and critiqued is something the public doesn’t know. That’s a process I’d like to be more transparent.