Lesson video

Welcome to the RSHE PSHE lesson, internet safety and harms: gambling debt and targeted advertising.

My name's Mr. Duffy, and today we're going to look at targeted advertising.

So hopefully you did really well on your intro quiz.

We're then going to look at algorithms and cookies, paid for advertising online, online footprint, and finally, you'll do your exit quiz at the end of the lesson.

So let's take a look at some keywords then.

So advertising is a marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a product, service or idea.

And social media are websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.

So for this lesson, you're going to need an exercise book or paper 'cause there are some tasks throughout the lesson, and in which case, you will need a pen or a pencil as you will need to write some things down.

So what is an algorithm? You may have heard this quite recently with regards to last year's exams when algorithm was applied.

So what is an algorithm? Pause the video and I'll see you in a second.

So basically, you may again have heard this in maths.

But in mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a finite sequence of well-defined computer-implementable instructions, typically to solve a class of problem or to perform a computation.

So basically, it's a series of instructions.

So, for example, if you're brushing your teeth, it might be pick up toothbrush.

Then might be pick up toothpaste.

Then it might be put toothpaste on toothbrush.

Then it might be rinse toothbrush under the water.

Then it might be put toothbrush in mouth, then, et cetera, et cetera.

So basically, it's a sequence of events that this algorithm is going to perform in order.

So algorithms are used in sorting posts in a user's social media feed.

Is that true or false? Make your choice, and we'll see what the answer is in a second.

It's true.

So social media, yes they use cookies, but they're also using algorithms. Social media algorithms are a way of sorting posts in a user's feed based on relevancy instead of published times.

What that means is, if you're on something like maybe Facebook or Twitter, for example, it will put in your newsfeed what you would maybe prefer to see as opposed to being in maybe a chronological order.

And what we mean by that is newest to oldest.

So what it's doing is it's working out what you go on, and what you like to view, and the videos you spend the longest on, or the images, or whatever it is, it will work out what you like the most and it will put that at the top of your newsfeed.

So also that's really useful for advertisers, is that they can maybe target products that you as the user may be more interested in.

So social networks prioritise which content a user sees in their feed first by the likelihood that they'll actually want to see it.

So it's trying to make the experience of using social media and using their platform bespoke and almost special to you.

It's what you want to see.

So algorithms then, before the switch to an algorithm, most social media feeds displayed posts in reverse chronological order.

In short, the newest posts from the account users followed showed up first.

So first ones were first, moving down in chronological order.

This is still an option on Twitter to set your feed to chronological order.

So you can still have that, certainly on Twitter, and you may be able to do that as the same on maybe some of the other social media platforms. But, by default, social media algorithms take the reins of determining which content to deliver to you based on your behaviour.

So it's not necessarily, well this one was the latest post or whatever from someone that you followed, right let's put that first.

That's why, maybe when you're looking through your feed, particularly maybe on Facebook, that it could be 18 hours ago, nine hours ago, two days ago, it doesn't matter.

What it's doing is it's finding things, posts that it thinks that you are going to enjoy, as opposed to simply what came first, or certainly the newest one.

So, for example, Facebook or Twitter might put posts from your closest friends and family front-and-center in your feed because those are the accounts that you interact with the most.

So it will all depend on your interaction and what you're using and where you go first, et cetera.

So what are cookies then? So algorithms is just a sequence of events in an order.

Cookies are text files with small pieces of data, like a username or a password.

So it's not a sequence of events, it's basic small pieces of data that make your experience when online easier.

So rather than having to constantly put in your password for an email, or maybe for a website that you go onto to do your shopping or whatever, rather than having to keep putting that information in, it'll store that information for you to make your life a little bit easier online.

It just speeds up, essentially, the process.

Data stored in a cookie is created by the server upon your connection, and this data is labelled with an ID unique to you and your computer.

So it knows, when that computer comes on and you go onto your server and you connect and you're all on the internet, it'll remember all those things 'cause it stores little bits on data that just make your experience, basically, quicker and easier.

When the cookie is exchanged between your computer and the network server, the server reads the ID and knows what information to specifically serve to you.

And again, it's just making that experience easier.

It might not, a cookie isn't going to do what an algorithm does and put things in certain orders and give you thing, it's just simply remembering small pieces of information.

So what are cookies then? Pause the video, write down you ideas, and we'll see you in a second.

So there are two types of cookies.

So like we said, cookies is just storing small pieces of data to make your internet experience a lot more enjoyable and, certainly, a lot more faster.

But there are two types of cookies.

Magic cookies are an old computing term, and we're moving a little bit away from these magic cookies, and the term that refers to packets of information that are sent and received without changes.

What we're starting to use more and more often and, certainly, is something that you're probably more familiar with is this term, HTTP cookie.

So these are repurposed versions of the magic cookies.

Basically, almost an updated version built for internet browsing.

The HTTP cookie is what we currently use to manage our online experiences.

It is also what some malicious people can use to spy on your online activity and steal that personal information, okay.

So it's always important, and this is why we say this time and time again, secure your passwords, don't give them out and change them regularly.

And don't just change the odd character here and there.

Make sure that it's a bit of a more of a dramatic change so that you're keeping updated and you're making sure accounts are secure, et cetera, et cetera.

But nonetheless, it's still there, it should be fairly safe.

You just need to make sure that you're following correct security protocol.

So making sure that you don't give out those passwords and usernames, et cetera, to people who don't need them.

So what are cookies used for then? So pause the video and we'll see you in a second.

So we've talked about this quite a lot really, haven't we? That cookies are there to essentially improve, streamline, speed up your web experiences.

Without cookies, you'd have to log in every time you leave a site, or rebuild that shopping cart if you've been shopping on whatever website it may well be.

And how many times do we accidentally close one of our tabs and think, "Oh, I don't want to go through all that process again of picking all those things." It's done for you.

You open it back up, it generally might say something along the lines of restore page or restore your web browser, whatever it is.

Or it might even just do it automatically.

But it just streamlines your experience and stops you having to constantly, as I say, keep putting in all this information that your computer is just remembering for you, which certainly, certainly helps.

Cookies are an important part of that internet experience.

As I said, it just means that when you go on, you're not having to keep adding this information, it's all done for you really.

It is extremely clever.

So when can then cookies become dangerous? We did mention, didn't we, that people might be able to get in there and look at these cookies and use these for purposes that aren't kind to us.

So what I want you to do, pause the video, answer the question: when can cookies become dangerous? And I'll see you in a second.

So since the data in cookies doesn't change, cookies themselves, the actual cookie or the cookies aren't harmful at all.

They can't infect your computer.

So the information, the data stored, they can't infect your computer with viruses or other malware or anything like that.

However, some cyber attacks, and it is some, cyber attacks can hijack those cookies and enable access to your browsing sessions.

So what that means is and, realistically, the danger is that it lies in the ability to tracking individual's browsing history.

So what they might be able to do, if you've been on maybe your online banking on the internet, it might be able to see that you've been, I don't know, on NatWest or whatever it may well be, HSBC, whoever you bank with, and then go into and click on that link.

However, what it then would have to do is go through a series of questions, security questions, to get through that.

It's unlikely that they would then get through those next, go through those doors to get into your account.

So they are fairly safe.

One of the things, really, where it's certainly maybe not dangerous but can be a little bit annoying, is if you're booking a holiday and you might be looking on these holiday websites and they're using your cookies.

What it can do which is handy is it'll show you the holidays maybe that you're more interested in.

So it might bring up, you know, let's say you're looking at going to Mallorca or somewhere like that, one of the Balearics maybe, and you're looking at certain hotels and certain packages, et cetera, et cetera.

When you then go onto another travel agent's website, it then might bring up similar holidays that you might be interested in.

That can be really, really helpful.

Equally, it can be a little bit annoying 'cause you think, "Well, I'm just browsing in general.

I'm not necessarily wanting to go to X and Y and Z." But it can be helpful.

However, as I said, it can get in and it can see where you've been going and it can see your internet history and your browsing histories.

For most of us, happy days, do what you want.

But sometimes it could just maybe ping up and pick up little bits of information that could potentially be used, not necessarily against you, but get into certain things, like I said, your banking details, providing it has the relevant information, passwords, et cetera.

So we've talked a little bit more about cookies and why they're useful and why maybe they can be a little bit dangerous, and how they work and what their purpose is.

What I want you to do now is pause the video and answer this question: allow or remove cookies, what do you think? Keep 'em or get rid? What do you think? Pause the video and I'll see you in a second.

So before we answer this question and before we go into a bit more detail, first and foremost, if you are thinking of removing your cookies, please, please speak to a responsible adult at home.

Make sure, A, they want them removing 'cause they might be like, "No, no, keep them on" or "I prefer them, I can get round the internet fine with them, they're staying." Or explain maybe why you don't want them, but let them do it.

Don't you just go and start taking cookies and removing things off your computer without speaking to a responsible adult first.

However, cookies are and, as with most things, an optional part of your internet experience.

You can decide, ultimately, whether you want them or whether you don't.

If you choose, you can limit what cookies end up on your computer and mobile device.

So you can kind of make the cookie a little bit more bespoke to you.

You can say, "Well yes, remember this, this and this but no I don't want this piece of data or this information being stored." And that might be passwords, yeah.

If you do allow cookies, it will streamline your surfing so it makes it a lot easier.

But for some users, no cookies' security risk is more important than a convenient internet experience.

So for some people, it's like, "No, I can remember my passwords, I know what I'm doing.

I do not need cookies to speed up my process and speed up my web experience." For some people it might be that they just clean them up maybe every couple of weeks, every month, or in two week's time just have a clean up and just get rid of all the cookies and all that data and all that information, start again, and as that process is taking place, they might then change some of their passwords to make sure that everything is safe.

And that might be merry, but it's up to them really.

But it could be two weeks, four weeks, whatever.

But that could be a useful alternative to just getting rid of them altogether or keeping them altogether.

You know, a bit of a happy medium there.

So removing cookies and, as I've said, there it is at the bottom, remember to always ask an adult to remove cookies for you, okay.

Please don't start going on your mobile phones, or your internet devices, or whatever it may well be, and start getting rid of these things because it could harm your internet experience and, you know, not all the time we know what we're doing.

It's useful just to explain this to an adult and get them to do it for you, or at least they're aware.

But removing cookies can help you mitigate your risks of privacy breaches.

It can also reset your browser tracking and personalization so that you're not getting maybe certain adverts.

One of the things that cookies will do and the advertisement industry will do is it'll identify what websites you're going onto, et cetera, et cetera, and this is one of the things where we can get what's called a third-party cookie, which doesn't mean you've been on that website.

You don't always get cookies from websites that you've physically been on.

You can get cookies from websites you haven't been on.

And these can be things like these pop-up advertisements, or pop-up websites, they will give you what's known as a third-party cookie.

Some, really helpful.

You might be looking for a new car.

You're looking at car manufacturers and their websites, and then up pops an advert for a car factory, car company, car seller dealership near you that's got some of the cars that you're interested in.

Perfect.

Really useful advertisement.

Equally, you might get something that pops up that's completely irrelevant to what you're doing, you don't want those adverts, you're sick to death of seeing those adverts, and you want those adverts removing.

Cleaning up your cookies and removing your cookies removes that, so it can help.

And as I said earlier, what you can do, is just every now and again, just have a clean up.

Delete things, get rid of things, reset passwords, and then it just streamlines again, doesn't it, that internet experience.

You're not getting hundreds and hundreds of adverts.

Removing normal cookies is easy, but it could make certain websites harder to navigate.

And, as I said, they're there for a good reason.

They're there to streamline your experiences and make using the internet easier and more enjoyable.

Without cookies, internet users may have to re-enter their data each visit.

But as you know, under data protection, nowadays, when you go onto a website, it will say allow cookies or deny cookies.

And denying the cookies isn't going to push you off the website and say, "Well, you're not coming in." It's just to say that they're not going to take that information.

Sometimes it can be really useful to have that information and say, "Yes, actually, please allow cookies" because you're going to be able to input certain things.

Especially, things like, you're looking maybe for a house, or you're looking for a car, or you're putting in your address and you're saying "Well I'd like to view national or within 50 miles." That can be really helpful.

If you're going onto different car manufacturer's websites, you do no want to be putting that information in over and over again, it can become quite tedious.

Equally, you might think, "Well actually, I'm only bobbing on here for a minute, there's just a couple of things I need and then that's me done." You might just say, "Well actually, deny 'cause this isn't something that I'm usually going onto." But what you need to do is, before you remove cookies, evaluate the ease and use expected from that website and what those cookies may give you.

If it's, "Yeah, that's going to help," keep them.

If not, deny it.

But, like I said, please remember to ask an adult before you start removing cookies.

So what is paid advertising then? We've mentioned a couple of things about advertising, haven't we? Particularly with cookies and pop-ups, and things coming up all the time.

So what is paid advertising? Pause the video and we'll see in a second.

So paid for advertising is these, pay-per-click is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites.

We see this all the time.

Some of them, fine, you know, no problems at all.

They're reputable companies, et cetera.

Some of them could potentially have malware so you've got to be careful.

Don't click on anything that you don't recognise.

To drive traffic to websites in which an advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked.

Pay-per-click is commonly associated with first-tier search engines.

So like I said, again, you might go onto a particular search engine, something like maybe Google, for example, the biggest search engine in the world, and you'll see ad, ad ad.

Might be the first three pages, maybe four, whatever.

But you'll see ad, ad, ad.

They have paid Google to be there, okay.

What companies have also done as well with search engines is they may pay a bit of money, extra money, pay a service to be at the top of search engine responses.

So when you type in new car, big companies will pay an amount of money to be at the top of that list.

And pay-per-click adverts, ad, ad, ad, okay, exactly, we see that all the time.

Every time you go on Google, you will see ads at the top and it will always start with A-D.

Okay, it might in bold and it might be A-D dot or just A-D but it's in bold you can see, it says ad.

So paid for advertising ads use cookies and algorithms to target their ads.

Is that true or false? Make your choice, and we'll see what the answer is in a second.

It's true.

So in advertising, the social media algorithm picks and chooses the ads it thinks users will be interested in seeing.

And this is why advertisements on social media is really, really big business.

If you were to put maybe a billboard up by, I don't know, by the side of the road, all right, everyone's going past it, everyone's seeing that advert.

1% might be interested in that advert.

The other 99% may as well not be there.

And that's the point, it's targeted advertising, just like targeted search engines, target you.

Even on social media and your newsfeeds, it's targeted you.

It's information directly targeted for you.

And this is what targeted advertising is, and this is why it's absolutely brilliant, and this is why advertising companies and brands, et cetera, love social media particularly.

Because the adverts that the algorithm are picking out, they're for you.

Which means the advert isn't just being seen by maybe 1% of the population who are actually interested in what it says on that billboard, or on the back of the bus, or on the tele, or on the radio.

It's hopefully, the idea is, in a best-case scenario, is it's hitting 100% of its demographic audience.

And what that means is every, single person that is seeing that advert is interested in whatever that product or service is.

And that's why it's really helpful.

So ad companies also use cookies to improve advertising.

So as I said, the algorithm is a set of instructions, okay.

So the algorithm might be to find a user, find their cookies, look at their internet history, web-browsing activities, et cetera, et cetera, whatever the sequence is.

The cookie's the bit of data, so it's been here, here, here, here, here.

It can then start to build up a profile of you and target advertising based on what's relevant to the user, i.

e you, to improve reporting on campaign performance and to avoid showing ads that the user has already seen.

And that's really important.

There's no point paying for an advertisement that, A, you've seen time and time again.

We want to keep it fresh, you want to keep it up to date, 'cause you want to show that the product is fresh and up to date.

You don't want a stagnant still product that's dated.

Nowadays, with the improvements in everything that we do and the speed at which we want things getting better all the time and we want things looking fresh and new all the time.

You don't want a dated advert.

The other thing is it doesn't want to see an advert that you're not interested in.

It needs to go to the target audience.

So we've talked about cookies and holding small pieces of data.

We talked about algorithms, which is a step-by-step instruction which might include having and holding some of that small data in your cookies so it can improve your internet experience, and your newsfeeds, et cetera.

We've looked at targeted advertising.

So if this has all been made for you and you've got this profile and all these people can target you with certain things and say, "You'll like this, you'll like this, you'll like that." It's taking data and using it on your behalf.

So what do we mean then by the term online footprint? Pause the video, write some ideas down, I'll see you in a second.

So a digital footprint is basically all the stuff you leave behind as you use the internet.

So every time you use the internet, you might delete certain things but that information has still been stored somewhere else.

So you might delete it off your computer and get rid of it, you know, you might go onto your social media and delete a post, or delete a picture, or whatever it is, but somewhere, someone has, A, seen it, B, it's been stored somewhere else.

So on an external server, with Google itself, or someone else's computer 'cause they might still see it in their account.

Just because I've deleted it off my device doesn't mean that they've deleted it.

So we always have an online footprint, it's like walking in the sand, yeah, or walking on concrete.

It's there, there's a footprint we can see, we can track back but it's always there.

So what can you leave behind when on the internet? Pause the video, write down some of your ideas, and we'll see in a second.

So we mentioned then, we'll come onto this task in a second.

But we mentioned there, didn't we, things like pictures, web searches, all these things we've talked about.

And these are known as active.

So things like things that you've done.

So emails that you've sent, again you might delete them, doesn't mean they've deleted them.

Just because you've deleted it off your computer, off your device, this doesn't mean that it's been deleted at the other end.

Comments on social media.

You might delete your social media account, you might delete a comment, but someone somewhere may have access to it, a copy of it or whatever.

Media you upload to social media or YouTube.

Again, it leaves a footprint.

Sometimes you might delete all the content but it doesn't remove the footprint that shows that you were there in the first place.

It might just free up some space so that something else can take its place.

It's like when you delete a picture off your phone.

You're not necessarily deleting the picture.

What you're doing is you're saying to your phone, "Right, I don't need this picture anymore so get rid of it" and you won't see it, and it'll go into the depths of somewhere within your phone.

But when I take another picture, it can replace that one and then eventually the information, the data is just basically, it's saying you can go over this.

Skype calls.

You know, we've been doing a lot of home learning, Zoom, Skype, Teams, that's all active and that's all a footprint, footprint to the call, et cetera, et cetera.

And web searches.

We've already identified that cookies use your web searches to speed up your experience and it leaves a footprint behind.

You go onto a website, there's your footprint.

You go to another footprint, and it's the same.

It will always know that you've been there.

It'll take your unique ID number, et cetera, et cetera.

So what this means is this is why we've got to be so so careful with the things that we put out on social media because we always leave a footprint, we always leave a trail.

It could be a digital trail just to show you've been there or it could be a physical trail of things that we can physically see like comments on social media.

Yeah, we hear don't we, time and time again, celebrities that have made a comment 10 years ago coming back to resurface.

It might be a footballer when they comment say, "Oh, I hate that team.

I hope we beat them et cetera, et cetera." And suddenly, five years later, they've just signed for that team and you're like oops.

So you've got to be careful, and that's why we always say make sure that everything that you put out there is professional, that it's not derogatory, et cetera, et cetera.

So if that's what we mean by active, what do we mean by passive? So active, obviously, is something that you physically do yourself.

Passive is something that maybe you've not got necessarily control over or it's happening on your behalf.

So pause the video, complete the table, and I'll see you in a second.

So passive or a passive digital footprint is a data trail you unintentionally leave online.

So this might be visit a website, the web server may log your IP address.

So you've literally just gone onto the website and it's logged your IP address.

Active, you're physically sending an email, you're physically making a comment, you're physically putting a picture on social media, or you're making a video and putting it on YouTube, or you're making those calls, or you're doing those.

Passive is it's things that, you know, that you're just doing it and it's just logging it in the background.

Cookies is passive but does not contain personal information.

So it's just saying that you went onto this website, you did this, you did this but it doesn't contain any personal information, whereas active does.

So digital footprint then.

Everyone who uses the internet has a digital footprint.

It's nothing to be worried about, it's nothing to be scared of, but it's something that you need to be aware of.

Because, again, what we put out there online, there is a footprint behind it and a data trail behind it so we've got to be careful.

So it's not something to be worried about.

However, it is wise to consider what trail of data you are leaving behind.

While you can often delete content from social media sites, once digital data has been shared online, there is no guarantee you will ever be able to remove it from the internet.

And that's because you don't know what the people who are viewing it are doing with it.

They may be taking screenshots, they may be keeping it, or it's just gone into the depths of the internet.

And actually, it's just done that and you can't really get to it.

And that's why, providing we're putting things on there that aren't derogatory or abusive or anything like that, as long as it's, you know, nice, happy things, it doesn't matter.

Nothing to worry about.

Where the issues start to lie is if comments are made, like I said, about the footballer saying he hates that football team, and then three, four, five years later down the line he's suddenly signed for them and people and fans will make a point of showing that comment.

Irrespective of whether he deleted it before he signed for them 'cause he knew he signing he thought, "Best get rid of that." Someone somewhere will have it.

So I really hope you've learned something today, all about algorithms, cookies and your digital footprint.

As I said, before you start removing cookies or deleting cookies or whatever, please speak to a trusted adult before you do any of those things.

And if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Like I said, I've been Mr. Duffy.

I really, really hope you've enjoyed the lesson today, and I'll see you soon, goodbye.