It is not a secret that social networks are huge gatherers of data about users. That is how the algorithm operates – it compiles the patterns of your performance online and then categorizes ads and other promoted content. The controlling features of Instagram are closed for users. That means – you cannot completely stop the app from collecting data about what you are doing online and limit the kinds of advertising that you see in your feed.
As a matter of fact, any attempt to buy and use 100, 500, or 20 Instagram likes for business or personal blog promotion can also be tracked and noticed by specific algorithms but it’s not crucial. However there are methods to put some borders for Instagram, and in this article, we will give you this content to make your time online more comfortable for you.
Basic security
There are some reasons you should enter the settings of your app and check what you actually share, maybe without even knowing.
First of all, you will notice the Security paragraph, where you will find an Access Data point.
When you tap it, you can discover everything that is connected with your account, like phone numbers, or email addresses.
Also, the changes that the user did to the password will be revealed to him, and the overall interaction in the app too.
IG gathers 25 data categories, e.g. poll interactions and other Stories activity, followed hashtags, the changes that users make in their bio, and so on.
The sad aspect about it is even if you can discover all this info without any doubt, there are not too many actions that you can perform to improve this situation. For example, you can erase your history of searches, but it won’t vanish without a trace forever. Occasionally this information will be restored, as soon as you will look for the same thing on Instagram or Facebook.
Another function that can be diminished is applying your contact list into the network database. Once you put in your contacts, the algorithm of Instagram is competent to provide recommendations for friends. However, at the same time, subtracting your CL is also a source to receive the info about your social actions. This option works in another way – you might withdraw the contacts from Instagram.
Geo position
Instagram is positioned as a mobile platform, or in other words, people use it primarily with their smartphones. And when you post a photo or story, you could enable the geological location finder, which is basically the channel for Instagram to gather this data. This feature is shut down by standard settings and can be altered in too. To provide permission for tracking and sharing your location, you will have to attend your device settings and permit or restrict this action. You can’t accomplish that in the app Settings.
On the Android phone, tap Settings, and after that enter the paragraph Apps and locate Instagram there. The features that can be restricted/allowed on here are:
- location
- microphone
- camera
- contacts
- depository space of your device, etc.
You can either allow the app to gather information all the time (meaning when you are not in the app), only when you are using it, or never. These actions would be analogous to IOS device owners.
Managing The Advertising
Instagram is now one of the channels where Facebook is grossing money. And so, the platform is full of numerous ads. Occurring the parent company, Facebook runs it completely, and quite successfully. The power of Instagram as a marketplace has increased as the platform introduced the shopping features, which is why this network’s ads system has strong support from FB servers.
The range of ads that you observe is established on the knowledge about your preferences that is gathered by both Instagram and Facebook. Inside the platform, you will usually see merchandise that is parallel to the one that you liked, followed, or shared. For example, if you subscribed to and liked some posts about swimsuits, with 97 percent probability you will meet in your feed the promoted posts from other brands that provide this piece of clothing, probably in your region.
Your character and interests can also be tracked outside of the platform. The small component of code that is called Facebook Pixel is embedded in practically every website on the internet. It moreover accumulates detailed info about the kind of products that you were interested in or bought. The identifier that is linked to the Pixel will then categorize and decide what advertising you will later see.
The amount of control that you get over the huge marketing machine, that includes Instagram is microscopic. In the Settings of your app, you can detect what ads entertained you. Meaning: you appreciated a post, left a comment on it, saved it, or watched the major portion of a promoted video. Looking through that will allow you to predict what kind of advertising you will observe in the nearest time.
To dismiss the individual ads, you should:
- Hit three dots in the right upper corner.
- Then, choose Hide.
- Or you can report it if you consider this material inappropriate and against the policy of Instagram.
To get more power over the ads, you will have to stop by your Facebook page. The changes that you would make in it, are applied to Instagram too. On FB you are able to change your preferences, and that would filter out the advertising you don’t care for.
The Ad Preferences page is a wishing well for finding the data. It will demonstrate what Facebook considers to be your choices in content, what companies have loaded the data about you, and how it is targeting you. So what you should do is to spend some precious time examining the points in this field and changing them to your favor.
The prominent criteria that you can base your choice on are:
- employment
- connections
- marriage
- studying data
All that can be discovered in the field on Facebook where your bio is. So don’t be surprised to see that many of your friends had deleted their biodata. They just want to avoid ads.
Get Rid Of Instagram
The most radical direction to avoid annoying ads and don’t let the platform stack the info about you is to eliminate your app. To withdraw the account inside the app is impossible, remember it. To perform that you can do it through this link. But you must realize that everything that you possess there – your:
- pictures
- comments
- videos
- likes
- followers
…will be deleted as well, and there is no chance to get them restored. There is too a possibility to freeze your profile – this option is called a temporary disability.
Destroying the app is a good idea if you just need to relax, and spend some quality time offline with your family and friends, experiencing what life is like when you don’t scroll the feed for half of the day. This is a good way to have a rest from obtrusive trends and big chunks of informational garbage that you can incoherently consume on the platform. The algorithms are not perfect, and they cannot understand if you really like the ads that you watch. All they can rely on is your behavior on the internet. So you can also try to limit your surfing to the minimum and never subscribe to brands and influencers who are posting much product placement.
The Conclusion
Ads can be annoying. Hell, it can drive you crazy if there is too much of it or if it shows you something inappropriate. But we must understand that without ads, the revenue of social media will be lowered, and thus, their owners and developing teams will lose interest in working on it. And with that, the quality of social media experience would be discredited a lot. Besides, the possibility to work with ads on social media has given lots of small local businesses to grow and blossom with high-quality products, which is actually a nice course of things.
EDITOR NOTE: This is a promoted post and should not be viewed as an editorial endorsement.