Since February 14th, Valentine’s Day, is here:
PLEASE, DON’T OVER-SHARE.
Or do, I guess. It’s not really something I can stop on my own. I’m not saying this because of my personal taste or because I’m against February 14th. I’m saying it because I see it as a very important personal data vulnerability that is often overlooked. The roses you receive, the places you go, what you do, your meeting spots, etc. Each of them may be beautiful and valuable, but keep them to yourself. There are two types of social media accounts where you might share these: Public and Private. If it’s private, the biggest concern depends on the platform’s user terms. But if your account is public, there are very different reasons why you should consider what I’m saying:
1) Indexing bots (Crawlers)
Indexing bots (or Crawlers) record whatever comes across them on social media. From the most important person to the most insignificant one, these bots create a digital identity for every kind of account, sell these digital profiles, and make money off your data. Although there are attempts to prevent this, because this data benefits large companies and serves as a source of information for AI systems capable of making societal predictions with very critical algorithms, such attempts are either not sustained or are blocked. So if you’re going to post on a public account, avoiding excessive detail would be better for you.
2) Sharing sensitive information
Even a single photo you post from somewhere can be analyzed through “Reverse Image Search” platforms, and your location can be identified instantly. These systems compare your photo with other images on the internet and in databases to find similar matches. If different accounts have shared the same place with its name, congratulations! Your location is now indirectly public. Most likely, it won’t interest anyone. But it also reveals that you are not at home. If someone is waiting for a moment when you’re not home, this would be a perfect opportunity. As I said, I hope this concerns no one, but it is definitely a critical risk.
3) Personalized Ads
Many users keep their history and archive features enabled so they don’t lose certain functionalities. Instagram can be given as an example. Instead of disappearing after 24 hours, everything you share gets archived. All the stories in your archive are used as a data source for Meta AI. Yes, surprisingly, this is true. You can find this information yourself in the archive section. Meta AI has a wide range of applications. Therefore, it can be concluded that someone who approves this allows Meta to present them with more personalized content and ads. In other words, creepily smart ads, targeted based on your past ideas and behaviors, may appear in front of you.
If these three reasons don’t convince you, or if you have no issue with them, you can share however you like. Still, keeping your account at least private and restricting what you allow might be a better idea.
This text was not written using any AI, there may be spelling/grammar mistakes and meaningless sentences, and since it was translated, some meaning differences may have happened.