Technology in the right hands can be beneficial, astonishing, and incredibly fun. Technology in the wrong hands can be explosive and frightening. And whether its in the right or wrong hands, it has changed an entire world forever! We see it everyday...we live it and we change with it; we have adjusted and for the most part, we will continue to adjust. We live in an advanced world of social media, social networks, smart devices, etc. And I feel like the more technology advances, the more concerns will surface...but that is just "my personal feelings."
For example, the new concerns about user privacy that has surfaced that Facebook eventually plans to target consumers based on which apps they use. In his article, New Privacy Concerns Emerge after News Surfaces about Facebook's Plan to Target Consumers Based on Which Apps They Use, Silverstein (2012) speaks of the Wall Street Journal reporting that Facebook's new initiative in mobile advertising will push "the limits of how companies track what people do on their phones." ." It looks as though Facebook will track apps that are employed by users via the Facebook Connection feature, and according to the Journal, Facebook knowing that data—will then target ads as well as try to track what a user does while using the apps.
What I gather from this is that the many users who play games on Facebook
will be targeted with ads for more games by that specific developer. For instance, if a user plays Texas HoldEm
Poker which is developed by Zynga, the user will be targeted with ads for more Zynga
games. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t want to be bothered with ads
for other games, I want to choose the games that I want to play without the
hassle. However, some may see it differently than I do. Users who play these
games daily may like the idea of receiving the ads, and they could possibly be
for similar games, but that I can’t be too sure about. But I do know that I don’t
like the fact that my privacy is at risk by choosing as a Facebook user. Another thing that I think about is the fact
that so many Facebook users probably will not even know anything about this;
therefore, not even realizing that they have been targeted.
Silerstein (2012) did mention that Facebook is being advised to offer
methods to opt out of the mobile ad targeting because of the privacy concerns.
And I think that it’s only fair to give users the option to prevent themselves
from being targeted with more aggravating ads. I honestly think that Facebook
is going too far.
I love technology, I for one think that it’s amazing but I care
much for when it’s being misused and invading privacy. I’m very skeptical about
that sort of thing. A company like Facebook has bought so many people back
together or together for the first time and even created wonderful friendships
and an awesome way to market yourself or your business. But Facebook has to have
a better way to protect the many users privacy. If it was up to me, I would get
the team together to figure out a better way to increase revenue that will not
expose the many faithful Facebook users and cause them to become targets
without any type of notification or alert.
References:
Silverstein, E. (2012). New Privacy Concerns Emerge after News Surfaces about Facebook's Plan to Target Consumers Based on Which Apps They Use. Retrieved from http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/2012/07/11/298478-new-privacy-concerns-emerge-after-news-surfaces-facebooks.htm
Bestdesigntuts.com (2012) 10 Best Facebook Oriented Applications for Your IPhone. Retrieved from http://www.bestdesigntuts.com/10-best-facebook-oriented-applications-for-your-iphone/
