Twitter to Track Your App Downloads to Serve Up Ads

Twitter is ramping up its advertising efforts with a little help from your data.

The company said today that it will collect information about the apps that you download in order to provide a 'more personal Twitter experience.' Translation: targeted ads.

You can stop Twitter from collecting this information, but the process will be opt out. Though if you have already opted out of interest-based ads on iOS and Android, 'we will not collect your apps unless you adjust your device settings,' Twitter said.

The company stressed that it is 'only collecting the list of applications you have installed. We are not collecting any data within the applications.'

As for what a more tailored experience on Twitter will look like, the firm said that can include better 'who to follow suggestions,' tweets from people you don't follow but Twitter thinks you might find interesting, and - of course - ads.

When Twitter activates the feature, dubbed app graph, it will show you a prompt in your timeline. 'Until you see this prompt, this setting is turned off and we are not collecting a list of your apps,' Twitter said.

In a screenshot published by Re/code, the message appears with a blue background - much like recent alerts about new direct message settings - that says 'To help tailor your experience, Twitter uses the apps on your device.' Users can either close that alert without doing anything, or tap 'Review settings' to see more.

To turn off app graph once it arrives, navigate to the overflow icon (on Android) or the gear icon (on iOS), and tap Settings > the account you'd like to adjust > Other (Android) or Privacy (iOS) > and adjust the setting to Tailor Twitter based on my apps.

Apps on Twitter are services that you have given permission to link up to your Twitter account. To see which apps are active on your account, navigate to Twitter.com > Twitter icon on top-right corner > Settings > Apps.