Recently I read a 2017 Loyola University article which talks about the ability of social media and other emerging technology to “predict our personalities and essentially knows more about you than your friends and family do.” The article agrees that probably it does.

Media platforms allow for users to create media accounts where they can provide behavioral, preference, and demographic data about themselves. This data can be collected from the things you post, like, accept or search about through your devices. Big data companies and scientist, then collect this data and build personas about you that can determine your age and gender, what you like and much more.

– Source: Loyola University

Jennifer Golbeck says in a TED talk entitled Your Social Media “Likes” Expose More Than You Think” that the technology (google searches) that we have made part of our life collect data through our device, our reactions to post, such as “likes”, which help to determine “hidden attributes about you that you didn’t even know you were sharing information about”.

According the University article, the social media apps invades our privacy in the following three ways:

• Knows our friends: “Social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have the ability to keep up with your friendships. As scary as it sounds, by monitoring your statuses, relationships and activities updates, media applications can predict who your close friends are.
• Knows our interests: “How often have you logged into Facebook or opened your web browser and seen ads for your favorite band or the power tools that you need to finish your house renovations? Pretty often right. But why? By tracking users … media platforms and networks are able to generate a general idea of what your interest are.
• Knows our location: By using the location services provided by your device, media platforms can know where you are at all times.

With such enormous user’s data collection, many people have have begun to question such practices whether these apps are crossing the data.

I asked ChatGPT about its thought on the social media apps’ ability to gather information about us and know more about us than our family. This what I got back.

Social media platforms have access to a wealth of data, including our profiles, posts, likes, and even our browsing habits. Through algorithms and advanced data analysis, they compile this information to understand our preferences, interests, and behaviors. While social media platforms possess a considerable amount of knowledge about us, it is important to note that they primarily focus on aggregating and analyzing online activities.

Our family members typically have a more intimate understanding of our lives. They possess firsthand knowledge of our personalities, experiences, and emotions. Social media platforms may infer certain aspects based on our online activity, but they do not possess the same depth of knowledge as our close relatives.

Regarding hidden profiles, it is worth acknowledging that social media platforms collect data to personalize our experiences and serve targeted advertisements. This may involve creating profiles that go beyond the information we explicitly provide. However, it is crucial to differentiate between personalization and malicious intent. Hidden profiles are not created to actively harm users; rather, they serve as a means for monetization by delivering relevant ads.

Hence, social media platforms know a lot about us based on what we do online, but that doesn’t mean they know more than our family members. It’s important to know what information we share and how to keep it private, just like we don’t share private information with anyone in real life. The primary objective of our shady online profiles generated from our online activities is designed to make money through targeted advertisements, rather than any malicious intent.