If you’re curious about how media giants use your metadata in order to influence your user experience and to control what you see, simply continue reading to discover the ways according to James Scott ICIT.
Everything you need to know about media giants using Metadata to censor what users see:
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Essentially metadata refers to structured data which records individuals digital footprints
If you were to call a friend using your smartphone, some examples of structured data which would be automatically collected by your telephone company include the length of your call, the number which you called and the time which you placed your call. In much the same way, when you surf the internet, information about your digital footprint may also be collected, without your permission.
As an example, your location when you log into a social media site, may be recorded by a third party as well as the conversations which you have on popular messaging applications such as Facebook messenger.
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Media giants secretly tailor your online experiences by creating a psychological profile of you, based off information which has been collated from your digital footprints and social media activity
Did you know that the advertisements which you’ll see on Facebook will differ to the ads which your friends and family members are shown? In fact Facebook and other social media giants such as Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, use complicated algorithms to look for patterns in your social media activity, which they can then use to choose advertisements which they believe will appeal to your unique hobbies and interests.
While having ads which are tailored to your perceived interests may seem harmless, the truth is that social media giants don’t care about ensuring that you have the best user experience possible. Instead, media giants such as Facebook are looking to create revenue from you, by selling you unnecessary, gimmicky products and services and by selling valuable ad space to businesses, which you may not be interested in hearing from.
Worse yet, some sites have also been caught selling their users coincidental metadata to marketing companies and businesses.
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Media giants may choose to promote political posts on your newsfeed
You might be shocked to discover that media giants may also promote targeted political posts on your newsfeed, if you fit a certain demographic which a political company may want to target. As an example, if Facebook collects metadata which suggests that you’re in you’re twenties and a political party is looking to influence individuals in your age bracket, you may find yourself the unwilling reader of political posts, from a political party who have paid Facebook to promote their posts to your demographic.
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Social media sites aren’t the only culprits
If you log into a free email account or treat yourself to a bit of online shopping your metadata may also be effectively sold off to third parties without your expressed permission, which is a highly suspect practice.
Hopefully after reading the above information, you now are well aware of how media giants try to influence your user experience based on your meta data, without your permission.