FACEBOOK is a data beast but many of us may not realise just how much the tech giant knows – and how it comes by all that juicy information.
Data is the bread and butter for the social network, allowing it to cleverly target each and every one of us with ads that cater eerily close to our tastes and interests.
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So how does Mark Zuckerberg‘s company pull it off?
The first part to know is, the data Facebook uses isn’t just from its own platform.
It collects information from across the web using cookies.
The moment you create an account, you’re agreeing to its privacy policy, making it legal for the company to scoop up data.
This can range from names and dates of birth, to how you interact with others and the groups you join.
These areas alone can already reveal a lot about what you’re into.
When it comes to the Facebook app, the company learns even more.
Like any app, it can tell which phone you’re using, but also it can see Wi-Fi networks you join as well.
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What does Facebook do with my data?
With all this data, Facebook can build a pretty good picture about who you are.
It’s so intelligent that you might feel like it can predict what you like or dislike before you even realise it yourself.
All these data points are anonymised and are constantly improved as you do stuff online.
Some experts say Facebook’s algorithms know you better than you know yourself, Android Police reports.
It’s worth point out that Facebook isn’t alone in doing this sort of thing – the only difference is it has an advantage over most because it has so many users on its own platform, making their knowledge of you that bit better.
Thankfully, there are ways you can stop Facebook and other tech giants from tracking you.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
