DATA HELPS BUT NO THANKS

When it comes to the topic of data algorithms, databases and functionalities, Data and information, or anything about data, I always choose to be biased. Don't blame me. I've seen first-hand the power data has over humanity in general, and even though I'm not a very good student of history, I do know that data has started, exaggerated, and ended wars in the past. That is the reason why I feel it should certainly remain private. Data is one of the few things on earth that is as powerful being private as it is being public.

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As a computer engineer and Information Technology personnel, I work with data a lot and I can say that there is a lot of data that should not be out in the public, not because they are bad, or it can corrupt, but because one might take away someone's source of lively hood by realizing data. Now talking about these web2 social media platforms and the things they do with data, I will say even if they seem to have good intentions, they are already holding the world at ransom with the amount of our data they have in store through search engines especially.

Today I decided to check Facebook for News updates, and I started seeing ads concerning an aspect of social media management I wanted to learn. Now that I think about it, I had not searched for it online and only mentioned it on WhatsApp which is supposed to be end-to-end encrypted. These companies tend to make us feel they are serving us better by using our data for marketing purposes when it's been used to generate algorithms in SEO (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)

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Looking at it from one perspective, I mean how do we market our products in this congested world if not for the data these web2 companies put together to run optimization for every device? This is to say, once you search for something online, the result of what you have gathered is saved and used as a reference point to determine what the next result they give you will be. But then again why save it, they say it's majorly for marketing, but then I ask, wouldn't marketing be easier if products and services were tested for who they are rather than what an algorithm has programmed you to see?

I don't want to even talk about not having an online brand and the negative effect web2 social media brings with it. But I will say, I prefer we keep it simple and not wash our dirty clothes in public lol. Why give the power of our secrets to companies we only know by name? Just like the instance I have about just discussing with a friend about what I want to do and seeing the options as adverts in my field. This is to say if I want to be more personal about life, I need to do more than use web2 social media to do important things. It's never easy though, they call it revolution, but I think the real revolution is having your secret power at hand.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 111 EPISODE 1