Google was surprisingly accurate in what information it had about me. They had my gender, age range (18-24) and native language (English) all correct. I found it pretty amusing what they considered my interests to be. While the majority of them were right, there were definitely a few that I wouldn't necessarily consider to be my interests. For example, it seems I have frequently googled Wisconsin, standardized test scores, as well as colleges and universities in general. This makes sense as I bought my laptop shortly after attending SOAR. It also seems that I google for music a lot more than I realized--this, too, makes sense though. However, the only interests that didn't really seem to fit were "autos and vehicles", "computers and electronics", "rock music" and "urban and hip-hop". Nonetheless, I would say that Google has a pretty strong chance of advertising something to me that would catch my interest.
Looking at my Facebook profile was single-handedly the creepiest thing I have done. To be honest, I am very hesitant to continue using Facebook. Apparently I have a setting turned on that automatically syncs every single photo off my phone onto Facebook. This is NOT okay with me. I feel as if I have lost the control to dictate what photos the public sees. It definitely raised the issue of privacy. Furthermore, I was pretty shocked to find that Facebook has an accurate contact list. Some of the contacts I noticed I don't even have on my phone, yet Facebook has managed to keep them. Once again, this raises the issue of privacy. I am pretty creeped out by the fact that someone out there has access to all of my friends', family's, and acquaintances' numbers!
Another thing I noticed and was taken aback by was the fact that Facebook keeps a record of every single event I've attended--with addresses included. That makes it pretty easy for someone to find me. I like to think that my social gatherings are a private matter, but according to Facebook, they're not.
Lastly, I was not a fan of the fact that Facebook keeps all messages I've ever had. I've had Facebook since I was 14 years old. While I like to think the best of myself, I certainly know that I was not mature by any means as a 14 year old. The conversations I had as a 14 year old are not ones I'd like a future employer to see. Also, aren't messages between two people supposed to remain between those two people? There's definitely a lot of privacy issues that I'm sure many people aren't aware of.
It seems as if social networking has a lot more information on ourselves and our lives than I would've ever known. Tying in a concept that's been emphasized throughout J201's entirety is that of skepticism. From henceforth I will be far more skeptical when deciding what to post, what to write, and who to contact on the web.
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