How does social media follow a person?

Every one of us goes online at least once a day – to check social media, to get information, to shop or to complete work tasks. All of these activities leave what is known as a digital footprint.

How is this tracked?

Behavior on the Internet is divided into specific steps: enter an Internet address, click a link, browse interesting sections, subscribe and so on. All of these actions represent a certain minimum set of data that is automatically recorded.

Depending on what sites a person visits – what sections they look at, what products they are interested in, what car they are looking for information about – we can draw an indirect conclusion about them, their income level, marital status and so on. By collecting and analyzing the data, machine algorithms create a rough portrait of the user.

How to protect yourself

For example, geo-location helps identify a person’s area of work, home, and frequent stays. This information is then used in advertising to show the user a new restaurant or car wash nearby. If a person is not ready to share this information and does not want to receive adverts tailored to their interests, it is better to disable the permanent geo-location feature on their gadgets.

For security reasons it is not advisable to connect to public networks (channels with open access after registration). If you can do without it, it is better to abstain. It is possible that someone is using this information and it is not known exactly for what purpose. It is possible that after registration in public networks the user receives calls from unknown numbers.

How algorithms are useful

But it cannot be said that the use of user data always has negative consequences. Data analysis benefits not only advertisers, but also ordinary people. For instance, it is the information automatically collected that enables a navigation system to warn users about traffic jams, accidents on the roads etc.

Data protection

Many people wonder how the big IT companies protect user data. When answering this question it is important to realize that an extremely limited group of people can get access to “pure” information about users and at the same time they sign documents on their responsibility for the illegal use of this information. A tiered security clearance system ensures data security, so do not assume that anyone in IT can take user data without consequences.

Many people strive to leave no digital footprint at all. But you have to realise that it is impossible to become completely invisible to algorithms. Even if you don’t write your real name, location, age, you will still be using the web, accessing search engines. Information about user’s queries is enough to draw an approximate portrait of the user. In addition, there is information about the IP addresses from which people access the same social network account, the communities and groups associated with the page. People now have more opportunities to protect data about themselves on the internet and become anonymous. These include special browsers and individual search engines. But they are not as easy to use as they might seem at first glance. And before you start erasing your digital footprints, it’s worth considering whether you’re ready to give up the familiar ease and comfort of using the Internet.