An Educational Tool for Learning about Social Media Tracking, Profiling, and Recommendation

Even minor digital actions have tracking consequences: The tool demonstrates that seemingly insignificant behaviors like pausing to view content are captured and recorded in users' digital footprints, highlighting how comprehensive social media tracking extends beyond obvious interactions.

Real-time visualization makes hidden systems understandable: By using interactive visualizations and immediate feedback showing how user actions translate into profile changes, the educational tool makes opaque algorithmic processes transparent and comprehensible to novice learners without requiring technical expertise.

Explainable AI can build critical digital literacy: The paper argues that XAI-based educational tools have potential to transform how people understand datafication and recommendation systems, suggesting that demystifying these mechanisms is essential for developing informed digital citizens.

Hands-on experience shapes privacy awareness: Direct, interactive exposure to how personal profiles are constructed from behavioral data can foster stronger "privacy and security mindsets" in learners compared to passive instruction alone.

Familiar interfaces enable deeper learning: By grounding the educational tool in interfaces that resemble actual social media platforms learners already use, the tool makes complex backend mechanisms feel relevant and relatable while still allowing users to "peek under the hood" at underlying systems.