And it's being called "Personalized Advertisement"

Yup, and most people don’t realize it!

Half of it is our own fault to be honest and I’ll get to that in a moment …

It’s not in the same sense as having a guy in a tan trench coat, sunglasses and hat hiding in the shadows, but companies like Facebook, Amazon, Ebay and even some of the major retailer outlets like Target and Walmart participate in advertisement campaigns that track nearly all your interactions with their store. This information is then stored in a unique profile created for you and shared with all participating parties.

The idea behind it is to have advertisements that are more relevant to its users. For example, if you’re a computer techie, why would you care about Revlon’s new eye shadow and vice versa?

It’s a popular practice – even in some of the modern systems we use today. For example, Windows 10 has its own form of tracking as well. If you hit your Windows key on your keyboard and type “Privacy”, select the first option for “Privacy Settings”, you can see an option that opts you out of their own advertising profile. Did you know that even Facebook uses these techniques too?

Seriously, try this -- Go to amazon and search for a few items. Then go to Facebook to see if any advertisements show up on some of the items you’ve searched.

But what about the part where it’s half our fault too?

The good news is this only applies to the 2 billion some users who are on social media each month. This very same profile is also generated from the things you post on the platform. Any information that is public can be used for profiling. Your location, gender, if you’re on a phone vs desktop, even the topics you hit the thumbs up or “like” button on can be used to categorize you!  If you would like more information on what information Facebook uses to target you,   click here!

Some good news

Most places that gather data have options for you to opt out. This doesn’t prevent websites from stalking you entirely. but you should take note that just because you opt out in one area of the web,  that doesn't stop another from tracking you.

If you would like some information on how to opt out of the more popular targeting campaigns,  you can check out the links below.  Be sure to check if there are any other sites that you use that offers this service as well.

For Facebook
For Google
For Microsoft Advertisements (Excluding Windows 10 Applications)
For Windows 10 (Start Menu Ads, AppID, etc)

What do you think?

Do you think it’s alright to have this kind of information about you stored somewhere on a company’s hard-drive?

Do you think that its super convenient to have these personalized advertisements specifically targeting you, or is just straight up creepy?

You might be by yourself when you’re browsing online, but you're never truly alone.

ANY OPINIONS EXPRESS BY OUR AUTHORS ARE NOT THAT OF CENTRALVALLEYCOMPUTERPARTS.COM