Data Visualization In The Real World
First things first, my Facebook page is for the most part inactive. I don’t post very often and my pictures are at least two years old. I suppose they could still be used to gather information about me, but it would be largely inaccurate. My page is also private so I’m just going on my public profile pictures with this post.
Saxby’s
This is my current picture and it was taken in Saxby’s across the street from D.H. Hill library. I think the way the camera is pointed can hinder anyone from figuring out where I am. I also don’t put locations on my profile pictures, so that wouldn’t help with the context. The one detail I can see in this photo that can be targeted by advertisers would be the beats headphones I have in. The distinctive red cord kind of gives them away. But unless you’re really shrewd you’re not going to notice that. I could get advertisements for headphones and earbuds in general though.
Hickory, NC
The next picture is one that was taken by my mom in our backyard about five years ago. Once again, you wouldn’t be able to tell much from this picture, except that it was taken around St. Patrick’s Day. In both pictures I guess my hair would be the feature that stands out the most. I could get advertisements about shampoo or salons. I don’t think I’d be targeted for clothes though. You can’t really see what I’m wearing in the first one and the second one is for a holiday. Also, the first one was taken with a phone and this one was taken with a digital camera (Note the difference in quality).
The bottom line is that there is just nothing in common with these photos. It would be hard to send me advertisements based off the information in them. I could get advertisements for generic things like makeup and jewelry, but this is not the best way to figure out how to sell to me. The data would have to come from places like Amazon and YouTube for the advertisements to be relevant. I live on those websites.
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I’m kind of on the same page as you as far as facebook usage goes, and the fact that I give pretty much as little away as possible in posting my pictures. However, as ad targeting becomes more sophisticated and pervasive, it’s fascinating to think about what can be inferred from simple pictures (e.g. your mention of the distinctive red cord in your profile picture). Even though they aren’t necessarily accurate representations of who we are—which I think is good that you pointed out—I think we’re headed toward a place where they’re only considered to be just that.
Hey Kate,
I think it’s very interesting that our generation seems to be slowly navigating away from Facebook, and as Matt pointed out you’re not alone in your out-of-date pictures. Some things to think about is that Facebook can at least obtain information about your age, race and even location (regardless of whether you have location services turned off). Also something we didn’t talk about in class, but I saw mentioned in last week blog’s post was how Facebook is somehow aware of our browsing history and will show us ad from websites we’ve visited recently. I encourage you to look out for these next time you get on Facebook and see if you find the pictures in these ads persuasive.
Thanks for participating! Great Job!
Sarah