Want to See How Much Google and Facebook Really Know About You?
- Louise Hare
- Apr 1, 2017
- 2 min read
By this stage we're all aware that Google and Facebook are collecting information about us. But how much are they collecting and what are they doing with it? Find out exactly what they know about you below.
Facebook's proposed new data centre being built in Co. Meath
Source: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/facebook-data-centre-to-generate-2-000-construction- jobs-1.2508628
Facebook and Google are both free services, which by signing up to, we gain access. Though these services are 'technically' free, there is some form of cost to be incurred. The cost being that Facebook and Google monitor what we do and store this information.
Facebook has become a world of its own. Think about all of the things we do on Facebook- like pages, talk to friends, organise events, read news, watch videos, share big life events e.g. changing your relationship status to engaged. Facebook records all of this information and then uses it to build what they think is an accurate profile. Want to see what they have on you? Follow this link.
So what do Facebook do with this information? They use it to determine what ads you will see, allowing advertisers to reach those customers that are most important to them. The ads can be targeted to a very specific level. For example instead of targeting married women aged 25-40 living in Dublin, advertisers can target married women aged 25-40 living in Dublin, who own a dog and like to run. With such granular targeting capabilities it's no wonder the ads we're seeing are becoming so specific to us.
Example: Facebook know I'm a frequent traveler so have shown me an ad for a website that helps you to
organise trips away.
Google now operate in so many different spaces- email, video, social media, cloud storage, search- that it should come as no surprise that they have an incredible amount of information on us. They bring all of this information together to create an image they think represents us. To see what information they have on you follow this link, to see your google activity history click here, and to see what they think your interests and preferences are, go here.
Because all of Google's platforms are connected, advertisers that are connected to you in one space can gain access to you in another. For example, if you're signed up to receive a website's email subscription, you may start to notice that their ads are being shown to you on YouTube.
Example: Google know I'm a student who regularly writes essays so have shown me a video for an online grammar check on YouTube.
While it does make sense that Facebook and Google are trying to provide us with a personalised experience, all of the information they collect on us would make you question how much privacy we really have in the online world.
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