Hi there,
I'm currently going through some significant changes in my life. I'll be making a professional transition soon by leaving Paris for a more rural area, but I won't bore you with all the details.
My issue is that I really value my privacy and dislike big tech companies like gafam. To protect myself, I use Pihole and only allow an old phone to have to meta products.
I recently caved in and reactivated my old Facebook and Instagram accounts to help with advertising, along with using a platform similar to Hootsuite to streamline things. When responding to private messages on Instagram, I use Aeroinsta to block ads and telemetry.
I'm managing okay so far, but I've seen the success some people have on TikTok and feel tempted to create an account. The thought of it turns my stomach, though.
If you're in a similar situation where online communication is vital, how do you navigate it? Have you found any alternative apps for TikTok like Aerosinsta ?
I'd really appreciate hearing from you and getting some insights. Thank you for your input.
Just get another device and keep everything except your business and other invasive stuff on it. Privacy +1000
Have a separate computer for work. Use site-specific- browsers for Facebook and sketch sites. Block them from your main browser.
No reason you're fucked because you use these shitty platforms for marketing. Just keep them separate.
What is your threat model? If you don't want to give any data to these companies you simply can't interact with them at all. Where do you draw the line? Once you have figured that out you can come up with a plan.
One thing you probably should always do is separating your business devices from your personal devices. Then create the accounts you need for your business and only use them with your work laptop or phone. If you want, you can invent a sockpuppet persona that acts as your social media manager. This should insulate your personal life from most tracking as long as you don't use your work laptop for things unrelated to work. I wouldn't fuss around too much with privacy preserving apps for a business accounts outside of ad-blocking and regularly cleaning up cookies.
IMHO the question isn't as much you as a user of such platforms is "f*cked" because you sound both mindful and technically savvy. So, on that front, you will be OK.
The harder question I would say is how morally bankrupt you will feel by contributing to worsening the privacy of others for profit. Namely that yes by using Facebook/Insta/TikTok/etc you will gain more customers but those customers are gradually losing their privacy while you make those companies bigger by paying them. That means you depend on those companies more while they get more power.
Because of that I would argue that sure, do everything you can to protect yourself but it can't stop there. I would argue then than the question is rather, where else can you find more clients, and maybe even "better" clients who are more aligned with your own views on privacy, and maybe even more. It's definitely a challenge, especially seeing the trend of surveillance capitalism, but as you acknowledge yourself by using Lemmy, there are actual alternatives.
That's great reading something else than "use a work computer".
Actually, this is the root of my problem, I don't really seek clients that are people using tiktok. My target customer doesn't use any of this crap, but before I can count on word of mouth, I need to eat, and I'll make some profit when I've finally met my target customers.
In the meantime, it's thin line to walk on.
Doing anything online that requires you to break strict anonymity... breaks your anonymity, hence your privacy. The two should be separate subject matters, but the corporate surveillance model ensures that if anything can be traced back to you, your privacy is as good as gone.
You say you do Facebook... There's your answer.
