Ep. 4 Advertising Algorithms Help Us Get What We Want

As social media grows, personal privacy continues to grow as a concern, and it seems Europe has been more protective of privacy through actions such as implementing GDPR, right to be forgotten, and consumer protection laws on digital purchases. In the U.S. it seems the response is simply “adjust your privacy settings,” and sometimes I am reminded by the platform to do so regularly. To make matters worse, it seems there are data breaches at the top companies that are required to protect our information. There is still so much to do and learn about protecting our information online. And on the other hand, we all can choose specifically what we want others to see, or not see, although it is sometimes easy to let certain privacy settings slip. While lawmakers and technology companies work out those issues, there is another area of concern with relation to privacy to address in this article. The knowledge that advertisers can reach us by understanding where we travel and live in person and explore on the internet is quite a concern to some. Whether companies have developed technologies to understand our behaviors which benefits them by helping them make more money is not the question. The technology is already upon us. The question now is whether the highly targeted advertising is good or bad, and I say it is good because it helps us get what we want. I argue that we see advertising because more often than not, at some level, the product, video, newsletter, or content on the ad appeals to us at some level. And these algorithms are getting more sophisticated. Now obviously, not EVERY SINGLE ad we see is going to be perfect for us. And some people get mad just from seeing an advertisement. But I overall, through a combination of all the information we choose to share on the technologies we have become reliant on, advertising algorithms help us get what we want. If you aren’t savvy on technology algorithms or digital advertising methods, I will explain it very briefly here. Algorithms used on social media or Amazon or Netflix are essentially “equations” or “systems” that help determine what you will see on your feeds. There are other uses for algorithms, but that is the gist of it. A physical example would be the process of determining where to buy billboard space to have the maximum impact for a specific product. The second part of this is the digital advertiser's job. The platform already has an “underlying” technology, but it comes to the job of the advertiser to dig down even further to get the right product in front of the right person eyes. While the algorithm helps in delivering by bringing everything together, the advertiser must know who exactly needs to see their product by evaluating whether their best audience is a male or female, or by age group, or location. People living in the middle of Downtown Manhattan probably have less of a need for a new tractor than someone living in a rural town known for growing the best lettuce. Great, so now we understand why we see what we see online. It is not just “the latest” news anymore. It is content, products, or services that are relevant to us. And when it comes to advertising, there is someone whose job it is to get us to see what it is they are selling as we scroll through our daily feeds. And here is the beauty of it all. Even though some of us might be concerned about our privacy, or despise advertisers because it feels intrusive, there is a very positive side here. And that is: the good advertisers, the companies who have tremendous brands and reputations at stake, the entrepreneurs who are working hard to get their products or services noticed so they can make their place in history, they want you to see a product that is useful to you! Maybe the product is a new training system because you are a human resources manager, or maybe a new pair of basketball shoes because your child’s birthday who plays basketball might be coming up. Now I am not saying that all algorithms and