People on social networking sites

With every photo, video or piece of information we put on social networking sites, we give big tech companies more information about our private lives. These companies use our information to advertise things that we may like. For example, when you search online for a pair of trainers, you may see ads about the same trainers on your social networking pages or on video-sharing websites the next day.

This makes some people worried. They feel that tech companies know about their private lives more than anyone else. They fear that someone may hack into the computers at these companies and take their information. That is why fewer and fewer people are sharing their pictures or videos every day. 

Zachary Benson, an engineer at a social-media company, says, ‘Social media is free. You don’t pay anything for using it. It’s because social networking sites take your information and use it to show you ads. So, you give us your information for free, but we earn money by helping other companies to show you their products.’

Today lots of people know this. Some say that it is not a problem, so they keep using social networking sites. Others say that they do not want to give lots of information to big companies. That is why they close their accounts and stop using social media.