Running head: FACEBOOK IS USING YOU.
Facebook Is Using You.
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
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FACEBOOK IS USING YOU.
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QUESTIONS ON MEANING.
Question 1: In which sentence does Andrews state her thesis most directly?
Facebook is a significant player in social media marketing and networks. Lori Andrews explains
thesis when he compares Facebook with other “big ticket co-operations” on the assets they own
compared to Facebook’s personal data inventory.
Question 2: what is data aggregator? How are data aggregators different from advertisers? Why
is distinction important?
It makes money by selling adverting space to companies by choosing specific details such as
location, tastes, and preferences, relationship status, current activities, and employment.
Facebook shares this data with multiple advertising companies then it runs the ads through its
target market of 845 million users. In social media marketing, an advert must be run to meet its
desired audience thus Facebook acquires all the online information obtainable for each of us and
share with various companies. Lori Andrews argues that the government should set rules about
personal data of the users in that when social media networks collect personal information they
must get approval from the user and an agreement before they use it for business.
Question 3: how, according to Andrews do data aggregators stereotype web users? How
does the process concern her?
Internet tracking is also used by websites to collect information on people without their
consent. Majority of sites are gathering information about who you are and your location. This is
achieved by using cookies, beacons and fingerprinting. Cookies are small files of data used by
websites to store login information and custom settings. However, they can be used to access
FACEBOOK IS USING YOU.
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personal data. Beacons are small transparent tracking image files that load on web pages for
monitoring and reporting purposes. Fingerprinting works by storing a file in a computer or
browser to identify a person through studying the browser configurations and settings.
Question 4: what would you say is the purpose of this essay? What specifically does
Andrews propose and why?
Through the use of statistics, undependable evidence and personal data manipulation, Lori
Andrews urges the need of “Do-Not-Track-Law.” This collected information from internet users
is traded for large amounts of money like Facebook and Google who make huge profits using
people’s data. Andrews uses the statistics that 72% of people would opt out of online tracking
due to personal data encroachment and protecting their privacy.
Questions on language
Question 1: Andrews prevailing diction and use of colloquial expressions
Lori Andrews uses diction in an intelligent and educative way to pass information about
importance of internet privacy. Colloquialism is the use of informal words or statements
influenced by the way people speak in a given society. For example, go bananas or go nuts
means very angry of insane.
Question 2: what is doppelganger?
Employers sometimes examine job applicant’s online profile which helps them decide on
whether to hire the person or not. The word doppelganger in this essay refers to the other version
of life a person spends on social media platforms. Data aggregation brings about stereotyping.
An application for credit or an insurance cover can be declined, not based on a person’s finances
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but what other people with similar likes or dislikes have done. Lori Andrews insists on a law that
requires data aggregators to disclose what they know about internet users because, without the
law, aggregators make their own rules.
Question 3: what is weblining? What is the source of this term?
Internet marketers obtain information mostly through purchasing to deliver effective and targeted
online campaign through data profiling. Weblining can lead to online discriminations through
uncontrolled data profiling.
Question 4: word definitions
1. Magnitude is the amount or the extent at which a website holds personal data. Mechanisms
refer to the methods applied by websites to collect data from its users.
2.To scrutinize is to examine or inspect the information hold illegally by government officials.
2. Renege means to break a promise or to break an agreement. is the tendency to do something
regularly or an inclination towards a particular thing.
3. Stigmatizing is to regard as worthy of disgrace or great disapproval.
4.Bombarded is to subject someone to a continuous flow of questions, criticism or information.
FACEBOOK IS USING YOU.
References
Andrews, L. (2012). Facebook is using you. The New York Times, 4.
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