After looking through my Google and
Facebook profile summaries, not much surprised me. The Google interests section was spot on; as
the list of about 30 interests it had from my previous website searches had nothing in
it that I could disagree with. I think
it was able to get such a good read on my interests because I use Google
Chrome, Google’s web browser. According
to Google’s website, Google Chrome also tracks your interests and combines them
with your Google search history. This is
probably why I have so much more interests under the “Based on website history”
tab versus only two for the “Based on search history” tab.
The interests reflected my general personality, with interests
such as Sports, Wisconsin, Investing, Business, and many sub-categories of
these. If someone were looking at this
search history they would immediately know what strikes my interests. I think it would be especially interesting if
Google had a section like “Avoid These Interests” where it could have the
subjects that I dislike and would not like to see. Google's collection of my interests is not disturbing to me, as I think it
is a very cool tool to show me content that interests me that I may have not
seen if they didn’t tailor their content and advertising to my interests.
In the
Facebook section, things got a lot more specific, because I have had a Facebook longer than I
have had a Google profile and Google Chrome.
Looking at the hashtags for advertisements almost induced a sense of
nostalgia from my middle school and high school years like #USAVolleyball and
#Spongebob Squarepants. While it had
some really awesome correct hashtags such as #Blue Faced Watches, it also had
some hilarious misreads, such as #list of districts in Turkey. I really liked the collection of things I had
“liked” in the past, especially the ones I “liked” in middle school. It showed me how I have matured as I grow
up which was really awesome. Like
Google, not much of this disturbed me as all of the advertising was based off of things that I
had “liked” or looked for on Facebook. I also enjoyed going through the events I had
attended in the past, as I saw things that triggered flashbacks such as the event page for
my team’s volleyball championship game in high school. I would say because a
lot of the information is outdated and due to some just hilarious misreads of
my personality, and meanwhile Google had no misses, Google portrayed a more
accurate view of me as a person.
I think
this experience shows that no two people will experience the Internet in the
same way. The Internet world is
constantly reshaping itself around the actions of the user, and because nobody
will surf exactly the same way, everyone will see a different part of the Internet. Life in the digital society is constantly
monitored and adjusted for our behaviors, and while some may find this invasive
I do not. I find it really cool that we
get the best digital media tailored for our needs. I will not change how I interact with digital
media, instead allowing them to constantly adjust to my current interests.
Great Job!!!
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