Filter Bubbles and Personalized Results
As companies such as Facebook and Google collect more and more data on their users, they being to create a picture of who you are and what you like. They use this data to enhance your experience by creating personalized results that show you more things you want to see, and less things that you don’t. While this is most likely a good thing overall, there is one problem that we must consider. With algorithms showing what fits you best, articles and ideas differing from yours begin to be hidden farther and farther away. This effect was dubbed the “filter bubble” by Eli Pariser in 2011.
One area this has a large effect on is politics. In politics, there are clear, distinct sides, with a good deal of polarization between them. Thus, it is easy to characterize people in one or another group, and it is easy to observe the filter bubble effect. In fact, on my own Facebook, I have noticed a distinct lack of anything from a conservative-biased source. This is a harmful thing in the long run, as people become shielded from the opposing view. By understanding the opposing view, you can better think critically about your own ideas. With the 2016 elections coming up, we must remind ourselves that we may only be seeing one side of the story.
With the web being a mass of information, it is important to find what we want quickly. With page rank or hub authority rankings, things were based off of only what links exist between sites. Nowadays, the added influence of our personal data into these priority rankings brings up effects that we must think about.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/how-google-distorts-your-view-of-the-world/story-fnjwmwrh-1227444648699