Twitter to keep tabs on the apps you download

Have you noticed that majority of social media platforms these days are adamant on peeking in on our smartphones? Is any part of our lives private anymore? Well, probably not because soon Twitter will be keeping track of what you’re up to, literally.

The company will now add a new setting that allows them to collect data and keep tabs on which apps you've downloaded onto your phone. Their main goal apparently is to provide users with a “more tailored experience”, when they track what apps you are downloading the company can see what your interests and likes are and from there they can suggest who you should follow and most importantly, provide relevant ads.

So basically Twitter’s reason for the update is simple: They’re trying to learn more about us so they can make more money selling ads, luckily for you the update is op-out so you can decide whether you want it on or not.

The new feature is called app graph, Twitter says the other reason for it, is it’ll be used to personalize the content that appears on your timeline from accounts you don’t follow. The social media then said that users will start seeing tweets and favourites from people they don’t even follow!

It could also help Twitter sign up new members; imagine if you could automatically follow people that are relevant to you? That’s what they plan to do, keeping new users from just seeing a blank timeline right after they sign up, knowing what apps you like could actually help Twitter fill up your timeline.

Once this new feature comes out you will be automatically opted in to the tracking, but don’t worry Twitter will notify you once it starts and you can always opt-out at any time. Keep in mind that they are only tracking a list of what apps you have downloaded; they’re not accessing any data within your apps.

Here’s how you can opt out of the tracking through the main Twitter app’s settings menu:
iOS: Settings -> Account -> Privacy -> “Tailor Twitter based on my apps”
Android: Settings -> Account -> Other -> “Tailor Twitter based on my apps”

Twitter is not the first and they won’t be the last social media network to use your activities outside of their app to keep tabs on you and from there to inform what kind of apps you will see.  It seems like there is way too much tracking going on in social media lately, who knows Twitter may be turning into big brother.

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Written By: Christine Romans
Copy Writer at The Computer Guyz Cape Town