Online Assignment 4 & 5, Coulson

I've never cared much about my Facebook account, I rarely post statuses and only use it when it's convenient so I was not surprised how little it knows about me. They had my event history and friend list obviously. I am not concerned about that at all. The information I downloaded didn't bother me at all. Message archives and wall history were expected as was my security and settings info. The only thing I found interesting was my ads info. I have AdBlock Pro installed on every device I own and access Facebook from so I do not see ads. The ad topics do not fit me at all. Bands, companies, and video games that I have never heard of are on my list. Some of the topics are pages that I have liked. My favorite Musicians and sports teams pepper the list. That doesn't concern me either, if I have to see ads I would prefer for them to be about things I am interested in. My ad history contains two items that I clicked. I do not remember clicking them.

Google 'knows' me a lot better than Facebook. My gender and age range are accurate, however my interests are not. East Asian Music is listed as one of my interests. I am certain I have never listened to East Asian music in my life. Reggaeton was also on my list. The only interest I have in reggaeton is my desire to have it scrubbed from earth. I despise reggaeton. It did not miss completely though. It listed different kinds of electronics, sports, and apparel that I am interested in. The majority of my list is inaccurate, however. Products like hair care, make up and hygiene products were on my list. Those things don't interest me. I have stuck with the same products for years, no change will happen any time soon. I expected Google to know more. I use it quite often, probably more than any other website so I was very interested in seeing what they knew.

It is safe to say that Facebook does not know me well. Google knows a little more, but not enough to actually concern me. I'm pretty tech savvy, so I do not worry too much about the internet and tracking. AdBlock prevents me from seeing ads or clicking on them. Companies learn a lot about users by what they click on. I don't have to worry about that. I stay up to date on what's going on in media and changing privacy policies so I think that also keeps me on my toes and prevents me from making the same mistakes others make.