What Are Cookies Used For?

Last week we talked about what cookies are and I also hinted at what they are used for. If you haven’t read that article, I shall link it here. This week however we shall talk about what cookies are used for. Just to refresh you a bit, cookies are files created by sites you visit and are stored on your device. Cookies are integrated into websites so as to make your online experience easier/efficient by saving your browser information.

Cookies help to keep you signed in when you visit a site. This way you’ll not need to remember the usernames and passwords of each site you visit. If you are anything like me I know you have multiple passwords and it easy to get them mixed up. Cookies make our burden easier as they store our log in information for us. This way we do not have to keep on signing in every time we visit a site.

With cookies sites can remember your site preferences. Could you imagine how annoying it would be if we had to keep on reminding sites that we prefer dark theme to light theme? (Side bar; if you are not using dark theme, what are you doing? Do you not love your eyes?.) Or if we had to keep on changing the layout or fonts whenever we visited a site? I don’t know about you but I would be so annoyed. The internet is meant to be enjoyed not cause us pain. Other preferences include sports news versus politics or laptops versus phones.

Cookies enable the site to enable personalization of sessions through customized advertising. After viewing certain items or parts of a site, cookies use this information to help build targeted ads that you might enjoy. For example if you visit hamjambo.com and search for a phone, cookies shall use this information and bring to you ads on phones, earphones or other related items.

Additionally, cookies track your activities. The information gained from tracking allows sites to suggest other items that might interest visitors. Shopping sites use cookies to track items you previously viewed, allowing the sites to suggest other goods you might like. This is why certain sites show you ‘other items you might like’ or in Google’s case ‘other users searched for’ and the options are listed below. Gradually, a profile is built based on a user’s browsing history on that site.

Hopefully with this information you understand why cookies are worth keeping and in some instances why they are not worth keeping. Cookies are good but this is not always the case and we shall tackle that next week.

Last week one of you suggested that I should add an image to my author profile. I appreciate your feedback but instead of adding my image, I shall add a bitmoji. I am averse to posting my images online. I like the privacy I from keeping that part of me hidden. A bitmoji is the best I can do as it is me, but in a cartoon form. Thank you, have yourselves a lovely week ahead.

Lots of love,