Stumble Upon. Is it the next big thing? Or is it just one more branch of social networking that will continue to gather and store personal information about every user? Or can we even categorize this information as personal anymore? We know nothing on the Internet is private. Yet the majority of this current generation does not seem to be phased by the public factors of social networking. Stumble Upon is a website that specifically asks you to tell them a few things that fall under your personal interests and then begin to “stumble”. Every time you stumble, the website brings you to a new site of interest chosen specifically for you. You can then “like” the site it brings you to or just keep stumbling. Being that all my college buddies were doing it, it intrigued me. All you need is your email and you’re ready to go! So yes, I started to stumble. It was entertaining at first but then eventually for me it got a bit old. You come across some funny sites here and there, everything from fitness tips to funny videos. Soon enough you’re copying the links and posting them on your friend’s Facebook walls to share what you “stumbled upon”. Perfectly enough, this is what they want you to do! This website is the ideal depiction of profiling based upon personal interests.
The day after my stumbling experience, I went to check my email. I was surprised as to what my inbox had in store for me: “enjoy your weekly recommendations from Stumble Upon”. “Oh no” I thought…I’ve been duped by this personal profiling. I told myself I’d never fall into any of these traps. I wouldn’t sign up for any websites that track your personal information and use it to advertise to you. But since this website was cleverly designed, leading you to come across cool facts and funny tips to share with your friends, and everyone was doing it, I fell for it. After I received the email, I became aware of what I did last night. Funny how most college students would be scared about what pictures they were tagged in last night that they do not recall, while I’m nervous about what I stumbled upon and who was tracking and storing my personal information! When I opened the email, it only got worse, “Hi “your email here”! - We’ve gathered a personalized selection of sites we think you’ll like, enjoy!” What in the world have I done? I set myself up for more personalized profiling and specified advertising. But then again I thought, is there any way to avoid it nowadays? Some businesses are seeing this as a great way to find out what individuals like and target them based on their interests. Which evidently, is good for the businesses, they’re going to advertise to the right people, easily and effectively. But the whole idea frightens me. Facebook spread like wildfire, it’s only a matter of time before these little sites become more and more popular and profiling becomes easier and easier. It’s inevitable. Our society is becoming more and more in tune to what every individual likes and it’s becoming easier and easier to target specific people and advertise to them. The craziest part…we the individuals are willingly setting ourselves up for it all.
I took a communications class this past semester and we talked a lot about this use of one’s Internet activity and online profiles as a way of gathering personal information about individuals and directly advertising to them. Again I wonder, is this necessarily a good thing? I have my doubts.
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