Self-Made Data Mine
I’ve said before in previous posts that I don’t tend to notice the amount of data I output but, considering all possible sources, there is quite a lot of information about me out there without my even thinking about it. The kinds of data that I create are things regarding my tastes in music, TV shows, video games, and a few other niche interests. I’m uncertain exactly what business I’d be subject to, at least I don’t know that many by name, but it seems Steam and Netflix would be obvious candidates as well as any companies representing the music/other things I’ve show a connection to. The means by which I believe they’d try to influence me would probably come in the form of either some kind of targeted advertising or one of those “based on your interest in [blank]” kind of things.
I’m not sure I exactly like the idea of someone being able to target me online, but my actual acceptance of that fact is dependent on the context of the situation. Like if it’s just used for advertising, annoying as that may be, I’m not certain I really care enough to try and put a stop to it. That’s not to say I don’t value my data, just that unless it is being used in a way that’s deliberately harmful to me, I can’t really see a reason to be concerned. So, based on that, I don’t think I’ll really be making any drastic changes to my online habits. While I am now more likely to notice the content of advertisements and will be curious whether or not they were targeted specifically towards me, I doubt I’d necessarily be wary of them per se. As for trends in videos/other advertisements, asides from the abundance of movie trailers on Youtube, of which I’m not even certain is specifically targeted towards me, I can’t really say I’ve noticed anything that looks like it was specifically oriented towards myself based on the data I’ve put out.
I was surprisingly unsurprised by the amount of information my Google archive actually had on me. I’m pretty meticulous when it comes to things like clearing my history, so there was very little information the archive actually had (which probably explains why it didn’t take nearly as long as I was expecting). Granted if anything was surprising it was the lack of data they had on deeper stuff that I wouldn’t know how to alter/delete, like my Youtube viewing history.
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I agree with the slight apathy towards online targeting, as I am also not too concerned unless it is directly harming me. I occasionally even enjoy the benefits of targeting because it makes online shopping much more efficient and enjoyable. I had a similar experience with the GoogleTakeout, as most of my data was coming from GoogleDrive and the experience didn’t really reveal anything profound about my online presence.
I kind of feel the same way as you (and Emily) in terms of being not overly concerned with how I might be targeted by certain companies because of the data I’m outputting. It is definitely annoying to be slammed with ads on practically every site I go to, but it isn’t like I have to click on the ads. Also, I’m kind of the reason the ads are following me around in the first place. I contribute data, and then new data presents itself to me. I think it is interesting that you clear your history a frequent amount and felt like that affected your GoogleTakeout experience. I never clear my search history, but I also had little to nothing in terms of data that this program collected when I ran it.
I agree with Emily that it is efficient and enjoyable to be able to just say, “Oh, I like this!” and have new things that you like pop up! However, I agree with the OP and everyone else who has commented on this so far, that I don’t really care HOW I might be targeted by certain companies. I have the same “I input data, so outputs will happen” sort of mentality as well! I know JJ sent the email saying that takeout doesn’t regard search history, but I don’t delete my search history, so who knows what kind of stuff would come from analyzing that?!