Twitter has announced that it will start keeping a track of the apps that are downloaded by its users on mobile devices. The micro blogging site said that it wants to deliver a more tailored experience.
Dubbed as “app graph”, the feature which is optional is roll to iPhone users while it will go live for Android next week. Twitter assured that it will only track which applications you have installed, not any data from within the applications. It will notify users when its monitoring feature will be active. By tracking the apps people are downloading, the company can better gauge users’ interests and surface better suggestions of new accounts to follow and, most importantly, more relevant ads.
“To help build a more personal Twitter experience for you, we are collecting and occasionally updating the list of apps installed on your mobile device so we can deliver tailored content that you might be interested in”
posted Twitter on a company blog.
In order to disable the app graph feature before it appears, you can turn on “Limit Ad Tracking” in your iPhone Twitter app’s settings or, if you are an Android user, select “Opt out of interest-based ads.” Twitter is not the only social network that keeps a tab on your downloaded apps, Facebook also does the same but only for apps that use company’s software development kits.
via