Process Post: Analytics

Analytics do provide valuable insight into my target versus actual audience and lets me base my decisions based on previous performance of content and response from my audience. As a content creator analytics enables me to think about things such as when I should post, what form of content is more popular, and what audience it has popularity with.

Comparatively, as a user it is worrisome to know that my data is being tracked by each website I go to, and that data is then able to be sold to other companies by my provider. Online user privacy is something that I miss being oblivious to. Prior to a few years ago, I never intensely noticed the correlation between my search history or text conversations to advertisements, but now it is almost to obvious to ignore. The issue is the power hierarchy surrounding data buying and user data usage. For smaller or individually created websites, like Kafe Corrective, the specificities of the data do not go much beyond time, location and entered information of the user. Larger technology companies, like Google, Facebook, or Twitter, are able to retain a much more detailed and personal account of user information due to the terms and conditions that typically go unread by users. The fact that anything published on the internet can never really be erased has always been slightly terrifying to me. This tracked data and immense accountability has ultimately resulted in a “cancel culture” type era, where there is the debate of if individuals should be held accountable for their past actions that have been chronicled online. Growing up in a time where elementary students use social media, it is terrifying to think that anything and everything posted exists in the online space permanently.