A common phrase heard these days when it comes to the various services we access and use online is that if the product is free, then you are the product.
Sometimes we give away control over some of our data in return for using a service and this is not always a bad thing as long as the companies privacy policies are clear and articulate.
Twitter is one of those products that depends on ads for a large part of its revenue base and that means targeting its users with ads that reflect the users interest. If you understand this is the case then there is likely no problem and you have the option to ignore the ads that get placed in your timeline as you use the product.
There has been a recent trend to give users more control over their data and to provide better insight into what is known about the user plus controls to modify what is held and if it is used for this ad targeting.
Microsoft did this recently with Windows 10 and the Creators Update release after taking a lot of heat about its telemetry collection. Their effort resulted in a new Privacy Dashboard and a reduction in the data that is collected from users.
This week Twitter has taken a similar step to give their users full transparency on not only what data is known and used about them for targeting ads in their timeline but also full controls to remove most of that data from Twitter's servers. I have to admit, as I was preparing this gallery of images for these new settings, I was surprised at just how much data Twitter had on me, the apps on my devices, and how widely that data was amongst various Twitter advertisers and partners.
I do not get too wrapped around the axle when it comes to these kind of things but I know it is often a big concern for others. That is why a move like this by Twitter to be more transparent about privacy is a positive step and one I hope other companies quickly adopt.
I have requested the advertiser list and all of my Twitter related data so once I get those I will add any pertinent information to this gallery.
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But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.
