What do Social Networks We Use Know About Us?

In the current day and age, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t use any social networks. With our modern lives fully revolving around us being online all the time, it’s no wonder that nearly 4 billion people are actively using social media. We are relying on the internet so much, that it’s almost a second nature to us now. But despite social networks becoming our way of life, they are constantly gathering information on us through various means. Here is some of the information they have on us, reasons why they collect it and how are they doing it.

They Know Everything You Write, Even if You Decide Not to Send It.

Most social networks scan and analyze all the information they receive from your correspondence such as sending and receiving messages. It all usually right there in their privacy agreements and includes messages you write and delete without sending. Facebook has been doing this for a long time, by collecting information needed by advertisers from Messenger. With this information, the advertisers can then serve you the advertising content relevant to the information they have on you. The more they have, the more targetable their ads can be, and you are more likely to buy something.

Everything You Touch on the Phone Screen

It’s possible to identify you by the typing dynamics on your phone and swiping your finger across the screen. Tiktok even claims in the security agreement that it collects the rhythm and pattern of typing. However, it isn’t very clear how are they using this specific piece of information. TikTok is the only social network that collects these patterns and rhythms that we know of.

Everything About Our Devices and Our Contacts

Our mobile phones and tablets give off a lot of information while we’re using them. This includes the IP address, device model, mobile operator, time zone, operating system and the like. Gathering this information is standard for many social networks, and it gives them an overview of their demographics.

They also collect the contact info from our phones, as well as contacts from social networks, provided we have connected all of them together. It’s true that this requires the permission of the user, however, they can forward this information to someone else without our further approval. This is especially true of social networks such as Tiktok, whose owners, ByteDance, have stated they would deepen their connection to the Chinese Government, which includes sharing of data.

Your Interests and Search History

How many times has it happened to you that something you were searching for through google, suddenly starts poping up everywhere on various websites and social networks? Nearly all them and also many other websites and online stores are using your search history to target you with content. This can either be through affiliate stores and products, or just in the form of relevant news and information. A workaround for this includes using a VPN to hide your searches, but the fact remains that it’s all recorded.

All of this also applies to all digital assistants such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant as well. While they are extremely convenient, all of our voice recordings remain the property of large tech companies. In fact, voice assistants may even draw more useful stuff from you, as voice is more revealing than writing.

Fortunately, there is a way to delete a lot of the information they have stored about you.

Alexa

amazon alexa

Alexa

  1. Go to the Amazon voice data management page.
  2. There are several menus on this page, each containing specific data and settings. Here you can clear your voice command history and many other things that Amazon has saved.
  3.  Check each menu and delete everything you want to stay private.

Facebook

Facebook logo image

Facebook

Although Facebook doesn’t have its own digital voice assistant, the company still collects data through its devices powered by Alexa.

  1. Log into your Facebook profile.
  2. Open Activity Log.
  3. Select Voice Interactions filter from the side menu.
  4. Select Delete All Voice Interactions.

Tiktok

tiktok

  1. Log in to TikTok and go to the Profile tab.
  2. Tap the three horizontal dots that appear in the right corner. This will take you to the app’s settings.
  3. Tap Manage My Account.
  4. Tap Delete Account.

If you happen to live in a country where Tiktok was banned but you still want to delete your account permanently, do these 2 steps before the initial 4:

  1. Download a VPN so that you can access TikTok. You can use one of the free available VPN services unless you already have a running subscription.
  2. Connect to a VPN server outside of your country to somewhere where the service is still allowed.

Google Assistant

Google Assistant screenshot

Google Assistant

  1. Go to your Google Activity page.
  2. Find the Voice & Audio Activity menu.
  3. Open the Manage Activity menu.
  4. Here you can delete everything you don’t want Google to know about you.

Siri

Siri screenshot

Siri

  1. Go to Settings> Siri & Search.
  2. Disable Listen for Hey Siri and Press Side Button for Siri.
  3. Accept the warning and turn off these settings completely.
  4. Now go to Settings> General> Keyboard.
  5. Turn off Enable Dictation and accept the warning.
  6. Repeat this on every Apple device you have.

You can never be too safe.

Feel free to contact us if you need help managing any of your social networks, or if you simply want to improve your computer skills. If you’re not sure where to start you can see our session questionnaire for guidance.

Give Zoe a call or send us an email:

Phone: 0407 956 071

Email: computercoachaustralia@gmail.com