📦 Following movement 💻 Collecting data 🐾 Following tracks

tracking

47 3.4

Collecting information about what people do online to show them ads

noun
/ˈtrækɪŋ/

Texting

: seguimiento

Online tracking can reveal a lot about your browsing habits.
tracking data
tracking technology
tracking system

GDPR and the end of tracking pixels and cookies as we know them.

Examples

Every day brings a new app for nutritional tracking, video feedback, PE rules, workout routines, and so forth.

Academic text (2013)
Firms are also locking down computers and using tracking software to prevent data from being downloaded.

Academic text (2006)
We found some kind of tracking device in the room, too.

A Dangerous Man (2009)
There was the rigorous tracking of all contacts of known cases.
Gizmodo says Facebook will start tracking which stores you walk into.
One of the most common questions asked about tracking is whether this practice enhances academic achievement.

Academic text (2004)
Teachers in the current study recognize the differential impact of tracking on overall student self-concept.

Academic text (2004)
The company's tracking of user activity helps improve their online services.
Many apps use tracking features to better understand how users interact with them.

Antonyms

privacy

756 3.7

Freedom from being seen or watched by other people

How Extensive

surveillance

Specialized

526 6.2

profiling

Specialized

41 7.5

tracking

Texting

47 3.4

weblog

Specialized

1 3.3

Surface Forms

tracking singular

trackings plural

Morphology

tracking = track (semi-transparent) = track + ing

The morphological formation is regular, but the specialized sense of digital/data monitoring requires domain knowledge and is a meaning extension.

Etymology

The word tracking comes from track, originally a 'footprint' or mark on the ground, and a helpful way to remember online tracking is to think of 'digital footprints'—the small marks you leave on the internet that companies follow.