The entire process of seeing
my Facebook and Google data was quite troubling to me. My Facebook archive was
in some ways less surprisingly troubling than my Google profile. The experience
makes me think more about my digital presence.
The only part of my Facebook
data that truly surprised me was the amount of information included about each
picture, and how accurate the information was. Every picture in my Facebook
data archive included the make of my camera, whether it was a Canon EOS 60D or
an iPhone 5, the ISO speed, exposure and many other little details in each
picture. It also included the IP address I uploaded every picture from, which
surprised me. My only question was why Facebook was recording this information
so in depth, what it said about me as a user, what they do with the
information. I was also interested in how Facebook presented its data archive.
It included separate pictures, and then an index of the photo album that
included details about the photograph and comments it received on Facebook.
While seeing so much accurate information about my actions being so accurately
logged and given back to me is odd to me, it is also not as surprising as a
whole. The data Facebook presented back to me was all taken from data I had
personally and willingly uploaded to the site. Although I am sure there is
other information Facebook gathers, the data in the archive was not as scary to
me.
The Google information, on
the other hand, was a little more troubling to me. My basic demographic
information was correct, which was not too surprising. The things that Google
listed as my interests, however, were a little more troubling. Google listed
beauty & fitness, colleges & universities, computers & electronics,
coupons & discount offers, fashion & style, games, humor, make-up &
cosmetics as my first few interests in that order. I was a little surprised
that Google listed beauty and fitness as my primary interest because I do not
think I go to many websites about fitness. I did initially guess that the beauty
part of it came from my recent online research about certain beauty products I
was trying to order from Sephora, a makeup store, but then I noticed that
make-up and cosmetics is another category. I do not think that beauty and
fitness are my primary interests. I am also surprised that colleges and
universities is a secondary interest of mine, but this could be because of my
extensive research
The whole idea of being
aware of my digital footprint was introduced during my college application
process. Friends and parents warned me that colleges and future employers would
look at Facebook profiles and reach conclusions about people based on their
actions on social media. While this claim is not completely true, it does worry
me that every move from my awkward middle school Bebo account to my latest
Tweets contribute to my permanent trails in digital society.