Recently, the frequency of these ads pushed by major apps is getting faster and faster, and they are good at using personalized algorithms, sometimes "know you better than you", and sometimes push you some blind little ads...
In general, users suffer from "algorithms" for a long time.
Previously, the Cyberspace Administration of China and four departments jointly attacked Internet companies and formulated a series of specifications and standards for personalized push, sorting and selection and retrieval algorithms.
For example, it is not allowed to force the opening of algorithm recommendations, and the choice must be returned to the user; for e-commerce, it is not allowed to customize different purchase options according to consumption habits and preferences, especially in price differences; and it is not allowed to induce users to consume or indulge, etc.
So more than half a month after the official implementation of this "Internet Information Service Algorithm Recommendation Management Regulations", to what extent have the major apps achieved?
According to some current report statistics, commonly used software programs such as Douyin, WeChat, and Taobao have updated the algorithm switch.
Got it, let's go for a shutdown first.
In fact, at present, for WeChat after iOS version 8.0.17 and Android version 8.0.18, you can see a lot of space in the setting menu to say "privacy".
The personalized advertising switches that everyone needs are classified under the secondary directory of "personal information and permissions". It is worth mentioning that this switch of all software can only turn off the recommended ads collected based on your own preferences.
It won't let you see less ads, nor will it turn off ads, which poor friends can figure out.
For example, if you are a severe hair loss patient, it will recommend you hair transplantation before, and you may still be able to see the hair after turning it off...
In addition, WeChat has also opened up the "Personal & Third Party Information Collection List" to everyone. Simply put, it will tell you what information I have collected from you, what I have done with it, and how many times I have used it in the recent past... It dates back up to the most recent year.
A little bit of a deficiency is that in addition to the positioning information will show you when you send a circle of friends or watch a video number, there are some "other" functions, but what these functions do and are not explained in detail.
Apps that have also opened this information collection list include Meituan and Dianping.
The tricky thing is that both softwares need to perform an SMS verification every time they enter the personal information collection list.
In the collection of personal information of Meituan & Dianping, the most common is "order history" and "browsing history".
After you turn off personalized ads and personalized content recommendations, you can also erase all historical actions on your app if you don't want them to use your previous data.
After refreshing the page, the interface of Meituan and Dianping, including takeaway, appeared a lot of shops and restaurants that were obviously near me, but I had hardly seen in the past.
I don't usually drink much milk tea, but I finally saw the recommendation on it...
From this point of view, the so-called personalized recommendation can pinch your tastes and favorite stores, but it also really creates a kind of information blockage for you.
It's like I've been eating Sichuan-Hunan cuisine, but when I want to taste a little light taste, it's hard to refresh the right store.
In this case, turning off the personalized push has obviously brought a lot of improvement to my eating life.
By the way, one of the more sincere things about these two apps than WeChat is that its third-party collection list clearly indicates which companies or institutions your information will mainly share with.
This includes Xiaomi, Huawei, Tencent, Mobile, China Unicom and so on... Some are portable settings for "one-click login"; some are meant to push messages to you.
Unfortunately, Shichao still can't find a way to stop this information sharing.
If so far, WeChat and Meituan have been relatively in place to implement the country's management regulations, then the operation of Weibo makes me feel that although the regulations have been implemented, it is still a little bit less interesting.
Not to mention whether the effect of pushing information has changed dramatically, the closed entrance alone is cumbersome enough to make people feel irritable.
Compared with WeChat's large-scale "privacy" menu and Meituan's "Settings - Privacy Management" secondary directory, the entire process of Weibo is enough to "set - privacy settings - personal information and permissions - personalized advertising recommendation" four-level operation path!
Really clamped, it seems that it is still a little reluctant to force you... And Weibo does not provide relevant information about how the information collected from us is used.
However, Weibo has indeed changed a lot in the results of using collected data for pushing.
For example: Shi Chao, as a technology otaku, the original Weibo recommended painting style is roughly like this.
When I turn off personalized recommendations, then clean up the cache, turn off the computer and reopen it, Weibo becomes a unique style of mobile phone, beauty, and home (cute).
Laugh to death, no one should wonder what I really like to see!
Other than that... Why do Weibo and WeChat think I like to play these games? Someone in the world can play Sword Three.
As for another highly used software: TikTok. It is also quite unpleasant in the obscurity of the personalization recommendation closure.
The personalization of TikTok is not in the "Privacy Settings", but goes to the "General Settings".
And all the apps are repeating that doing so won't directly turn off ads, it'll just make the relevance between ads and you drop even more.
In addition, shopping apps such as Taobao and JD.com are also the hardest hit areas for recommendation algorithms. Buying things like Shichao, which is generally very purposeful, may feel better, but according to a female partner of our company, she often just casually strolls around and clicks on a few of the products to take a look.
Originally, the biggest convenience of visiting the online mall was to see more products than offline tricks, and as a result... When you see a shirt, for a long time you have to look at the shirt.
Even some unrelated applications such as Douyin, B station, etc., can be recommended to plant grass videos immediately...
Although as a shopping software, the appropriate personalized algorithm can play a good role as a shopping guide, but like the above two cases, it is obviously a little too much.
Taobao and JD.com are more conspicuous for the entrance of personal & third-party information collection lists, all of which are in the first-level directory of "settings".
But when it comes to really closing the entrance to personalized advertising, Taobao's path is relatively not simple.
In contrast, JD.com has also made a "brief version" on the "privacy" entrance that has nothing to do with algorithm recommendations, and the menu has an additional link of operation steps and is more complicated.
So far, these Internet apps have given Shichao the feeling that there is a school, and the same type of software is basically the same in the way of disposal.
Just like these two companies set up "labels" for specific aspects of personalized design at the same time, you can keep the algorithm recommendation mechanism while weeding out some areas that you are not interested in.
To some extent, such algorithmic recommendations are bound to be more refined. But Shichao feels that it also has a little problem, that is, you will be frequently recommended to things of interest, so that you unconsciously impulsive consumption.
There is a saying that this is also a kind of "compromise" treatment. In essence, turning off personalized recommendations is not to some extent to restrict people's purchases, but rather to protect individual privacy from infringement.
Judging from the rectification status of several apps observed by Shichao at present, although everyone does not do the same at the entrance and some information publicity, the advertising push after the actual closure is indeed not as accurate as the original.
After all, it only provides the option to turn off targeted delivery, and has nothing to do with the number of ads itself.
In addition, in fact, video software such as Douyin and B Station, in fact, Shichao still hopes to have some personalized push services.
Just like I prefer to watch some football videos, without the help of the algorithm, I can't easily brush this kind of content; on the contrary, like food, tourism, shopping, it is best not to let the algorithm recommend too much, after all, one of the charms of the Internet is that it can allow people to fully enjoy the diversity of life.
All in all, the algorithm recommends this thing for good and bad.
The good thing is that it does help us get information quickly and accurately; one thing that makes algorithm recommendations go is that developers maintain a "simple and crude" logic for algorithms.
The other is actually trying to make algorithms the dominant force in people's lives. In other words, we actually want the algorithm to be perfect. But in fact, with current technology, it is impossible to do this...
In any case, algorithmic recommendations can only be a part of assisting people's lives from beginning to end, rather than making us follow suit.
If someone tells me, he can give me a reference suggestion, but pick up not accept it at me. Then I will most likely let him talk about it first.
But if he came up, he would say, "I know what you think!" Listen to me, you see I'm ready for you! ”
Then I just want him to get out of the way.