A few days ago, I bought a shoes online.

Shortly after, when I entered my Facebook account, I was surprised to see how the social network showed me ads about the shoes which I purchased earlier.

But that was not all.

YouTube also suggested several videos about shoes.

And, when I booked the accommodation through a web page, I received an announcement in my Gmail account with exclusive promotions for that same shoes .

We live in the world of on-demand advertising and online pay-per-click campaigns. And companies justify it. Consumers respond positively to personalized ads they say from the blog about digital media and advertising Marketing.

Experts cite a survey by the consulting firm Sociomatic Lab that shows that "70% of users are willing to receive advertising and information designed specifically for them.It is important to know the customer and know what their online shopping behavior is " they explain.

• But how do they do it?

Many organizations use targeted marketing campaigns on sites like Google AdWords.

We must understand what data we are giving when we register in a social network and buy in online stores

This type of platform compares profiles and behavior of Internet users that companies can use to direct their advertising to a specific audience in a geographical area. These data are accumulated in many ways, including the search data (a record of what you are looking on the internet) and data Clickstream(the visits- web pages, which are collected for cookies that you have to accept before) .

Other examples, are online stores and websites that store a record of what you buy online. "Amazon does it to show you other products that may interest you and sites like YouTube show you videos based on your preferences."

Social networking sites like Facebook have all the information you include in your profile, from the things you like to the groups you're a member of, your geographic location and the ads or web pages where you're you click

• The power of knowledge

For some users, this is not a problem. personalized advertising improves your browsing experience and makes you discover interesting pages and services for him.

However, the problem is that "most users are not aware that this is happening" .

Every time you buy something online, you are giving data to companies and digital platforms.

"Users must understand what data they are consenting to give when they register in a social network and in online stores , check the privacy settings of the applications and modify them to make sure they give the data >they want and who they want."

The expert recommends making only internet connections with people we trust and being aware of the information and data we share with them. "

Experts also advises "be careful with the links that we click", because the more we do, the more information brands will have to create our profile of consumers with our purchasing habits.

using online stores like Amazon you provide a record of buying habits.

However, if we want to be active online, we will have to accept that one of the conditions is that our data will be used for advertising.

Probably, the next time I buy a shoes, I will do it online again.

Although, at least, this time I will be aware of the data I am sharing. And, when I enter my Facebook or YouTube page, I will not be surprised to see offers.

After all, advertising on demand also has its positive side .
The key is to establish the balance between participating in it and maintaining our privacy and data security. The latter may be more complicated than booking a flight over the internet.

• Some useful tips

If you want to have more privacy when you browse the web, you can follow the following steps:

1: Clean your history and activate private browsing . Your browsing history saves all the pages you have visited but you can delete it within the configuration options. You can also activate private browsing to navigate incognito.

2: Delete the cookies and do not accept third party cookies . Another effective measure is in the option "delete navigation data" to make cookies disappear, the files that gather information about you.

3: Deactivate your location . To prevent websites from knowing where you are, you just need to disable geolocation within the advanced options of your browser.

4: Control who follows you and block you. There are tools like Ghostery, Disconnect or Do Not Track Me to avoid being followed online. Use them.