Staff Writers
You’re scrolling through Instagram and an ad pops up. To your surprise it is something you just talked about. This isn’t a coincidence. Instagram is now recording your conversations and using them to create ads better geared toward your interests.
There is speculation surrounding the idea of Instagram recording its users and using their conversations for advertising. To test this theory, users purposefully talk about a product without having the Instagram app open and see if the product shows up as an advertisement on their Instagram feed. For many people, the product is advertised on the app as soon as one day after they talked about it.
Instagram has become increasingly popular throughout the years. In Feb. of 2013, there were 100 million users. In June of 2018, that number rose to 1 billion monthly active users. This makes Instagram a hotspot for advertising. Instagram is listening, and the only way it can know about certain conversations among its users is to listen through their cell phone microphone.
We asked a New Hope Solebury student, Kennedy Fisher, about her own experience with the new method of Instagram advertising. “I was talking about ordering some Domino’s Pizza with a group of friends. Later that afternoon, an ad popped up on Instagram for Domino’s. I don’t think it’s helpful, I think it’s just creepy.” Kennedy’s story is very similar to what most Instagram users experience.
This way of advertising could become the new norm. Although it creates more customized ads, is it crossing the line between personalized content and invasion of privacy?
