Where are we all headed when it comes to social media? While you may feel that free social media is the best thing since ice-cream cones… Let’s take a closer look at what you get for free and how you pay for it!  Taking a step back to get an overview of social media, there was time when I wasn’t even using these sites. After all, the idea was foreign to most of us in the beginning, so it seemed rather confusing as to why we’d even join these sites. Then all of a sudden, it seemed there was an over night massive build of traffic on these free sites. Everyone was jumping onto the bandwagon to get a free social account.

Now I must admit that these free sites can be helpful. Especially to someone who’s a big marketer of some company and wants to target as many people as possible to get their products shown to. And that’s exactly what all these free sites have become. They capture our information from our posts, comments, likes and shares. And then they do it all over again to people we’re connected to. As a marketer, all you really have to do is find out what people are saying, which words seem to fit in with the conversation and what products you have.

Of course, initially it was all about demographics and your profile. For example, say you’ve set up your favorite books, movies, or restaurants in your profile. These become key target words that can be used by marketers to show specific ads to you. But there are some people who have not shared this information. Yet it seems there’s always a work around solution for marketers to use.

So how can we avoid the marketing in our social world? To help ensure that you’re getting your privacy back when it comes to marketers, there are simple steps you can take to solve this. While people still want to consume things, we don’t necessarily enjoy seeing tons of advertisements. That’s why most people walk away during the commercials on TV, (for those of you who still watch TV).  Of course this brought along solutions to either fast forward or remove ads during recording so that you didn’t have to sit through all these ads!

But where there are people, there are marketers making themselves known. They will target you  one way or another.  We tend to give up our privacy too readily by agreeing with their policy. We are all vulnerable to the whims of free social sites. After all, on all these free sites, they have to make money somehow.  If you feel like you can't continue to be endure the bombardment of ads on the social sites you are members of but still want to stay connected, there is hope!

I've learned to take back my freedom and privacy by taking the steps to move my social life to a different option. When you step into a smallworld, although it appears similar to Facebook, it’s not your typical social site. There’s more than meets the eye and you no longer have to endure the cost of free social media intrusions. Your challenge is taking the steps to the social shift into your own smallworld. Learn how our team at alphaloop can help you take control of your social media and privacy with your own smallworld!