Data sharing is becoming more and more popular in today’s world and Facebook is taking advantage of it. This new app that would be partnered with Instagram is meant to dive deeper into automated sharing and its capabilities. Incase some of you do not know, Instagram is owned by Facebook and is at the forefront in automated sharing. Now what is automated sharing? Automated sharing is basically sharing information back to the company about what the user is doing on a particular app or even where they are located while using the app. This information is important because it can test different patterns of what people are doing on the app and their intentions. This way the company can either use the information to improve the app or use it to personalize ads better to the user’s interests.
This week Facebook released its new product that might be hitting the app store soon called Threads. This new app would take automated sharing to the next level. This app (if Facebook actually goes through with its release) would “invite users to automatically share their location, speed and battery life with friends, along with more typical text, photo and video messages” (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/technology/facebook-instagram-threads.html). This raises a lot of privacy concerns and for a good reason. Not everyone has an interest in having their personal information known when they go on their phone to check social media. Due to this, the app might be discouraging to many people. However, some good points are brought up about how this may be useful in some ways. Like mentioned before, this gives Facebook a lot of data to analyze, which can be used as a way to recognize patterns of the users to then make improvements on the app.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/technology/facebook-instagram-threads.html
https://www.newsweek.com/facebook-own-instagram-does-companies-apps-data-860732
As a marketing student, I’ve spent the past few years learning how little privacy we all actually have. This app, Threads, is certainly not the only app to request this amount of information from users. Apps and websites have been gaining insight into our lives for years. We aren’t even safe even when we put our phones down, as some companies are using video cameras in stores to target their customers. These cameras identify us by age, gender, ethnicity, and more. They track our shopping habits, our reactions, our moods, etc. High-res video footage is taken inside and outside of the store, and is then stored and cataloged for easy searching. Facial-recognition software is used to detect our faces, our expressions. Not to mention the fact that our car license plates are noted as well. We don’t even need to give them permission to do this. Even worse? Tiny cameras that track your gaze are hidden in holes on shelves, and are able to detect which brands you’re looking at and how long for each. Some mannequins even have cameras for eyes.
Most people have no idea that this is happening. The reason? A lack of disclosure. Companies can get away with doing the absolute minimum when it comes to letting consumers know that their personal information can be, and will be monitored and used for marketing purposes. Throwing in a few sentences on the 50th page of a privacy policy or terms of agreement document that they know none of us read.
I have no issue with companies essentially “taking” our data. My issue comes from the lack of disclosure. It is the ethical and moral, not to mention legal, duty of each company to let their customers in on the not-so-secret “secret” of how they spy on us.
Source:
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2013/03/how-stores-spy-on-you/index.htm
Sorry previous sources for my comment:
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/snapchat-privacy-policy-biggest-questions-answered/story?id=34910511
https://buffer.com/library/instagram-feed-algorithm
I agree with Kyle on this issue. If you enter your personal information/images to a social media site such as snapchat, they have an obligation to protect that information but sometimes they fail. For example, there are apps that now act as, “third party apps that allow Snapchat recipients to surreptitiously save the otherwise ephemeral photos” (abcnews.go.com). This means that one can think they are sending a private photo, but the recipient may be able to save this image, not through Snapchat, but through another app. This leads to a major issue in maintaining privacy while using this social media.
Instagram, on the other hand, newly introduced a timeline that enables them to make posts appear in order according to the user’s Interests, Timelines, and Relationships (buffer.com). This means Instagram analyzes what you look at while on their app, and adjusts the timeline accordingly. This may make some uncomfortable, but as Kyle said, you sign up for that when you set up your Instagram account.
You are indeed correct that with the rise of social media, privacy is becoming more and more a concern. In general, I actually take a minority opinion on this topic. When you make the decision to sign up for apps such as instagram and facebook, you are making the decision sacrifice your data to the private company. If privacy is really that much of a concern, then the best way to avoid it is to not use the app all together. When you post something on the internet, it will be there forever. Just because you account is private doesn’t mean Instagram can’t see your posts and content. In my opinion, it is their job to make sure that the people on the app are using it within their terms and agreements. After all, it is their guidelines.
Honestly, if they are really targeting advertising based on what I like, I really do not see the harm. In makes more money for the advertiser, the company and I have “likable” ads. In addition, if I don’t want instagram or snapchat knowing where I am, I have the ability to turn my location services off. People will tune into the one or two stories a year where criminals used data to perform something illegal. The reality of the truth is, it is blown out of proportion and there are things you can do to prevent it.
https://www.bustle.com/p/is-instagram-collecting-data-heres-what-to-know-if-youre-worried-about-your-privacy-8631780
https://www.csoonline.com/article/3236486/guy-tracks-down-girlfriend-via-snapchat-snap-map-stabs-man-shes-with.html