The filter bubble everyone’s talking about online
Ever wondered why one minute you’re on google searching accommodation in America, the next your scrolling through Facebook and all the advertisements reflect accommodation in America? I can confirm, you aren’t crazy and that is the power of the “filter bubble”.
What is a “filter bubble”?
Filter bubbles are mathematical equations known as algorithms. When using search engine websites such as Google or social media sites such as Facebook, your search history is stored and used to personalise your future searches, reducing results for information that is of a different viewpoint to yours.
Who’s blowing up your filter bubble?
Let’s take a look at websites tailoring your searches by watching what you click;
· Web service Yahoo News Yahoo News
· Media provider Netflix
· Social Media site Facebook
· Social network and blogging site Twitter
· Multinational tech company Google
· Online retailer and cloud based information site Amazon
What’s good about filter bubbles?
· Accessing information online that is filtered or personalised ensures we’re able to see what we want at an accelerated rate.
· The websites visited regularly will be prioritised at the top of the search page ensuring they are easily accessible.
· Filtering information that websites share encourages users to continue using their sites, having to delve that little bit deeper into what is available.
How bad is the bubble?
· Activist and Author Eli Pariser explains in his TED talk that filter bubbles are “dangers”, limiting our exposure to ALL information on the internet.
· Ultimately, we are allowing an algorithm to determine what it believes we want to see, removing individual choice and control for “online users”.
· Our search history determines our future searches, as growing individuals we are minimising the opportunity to grow with knowledge available online.
· By not actually knowing what is “hidden” from us, we are narrowing our mindset to be formed by our past searches.
· Disabling or blocking cookies and advertisements can be problematic for the companies who earn their income through online means.
How to burst your filter bubble
· University of Illinois explains in detail strategies you can undertake to accomplish a more natural approach to searching for information on the internet;
- Regularly delete your search history.
- Disable targeted advertisements. This removes the personalised adverts that fill the website pages we visit. It may promote a visually tidy, clean and easy to read page without advertisements.
- Be mindful on social media website, ensure your information is private and your date of birth isn’t visible.
- Turn off the cookies feature on all web browsers such as chrome and safari, deleted as they control what information to show us.
Filter algorithms observe every click we make and attempt to mirror these clicks on our behalf when searching in the future. As a regular online user of all things, Facebook, Instagram, Google and Netflix, I have taken the steps to be more mindful of what I see when I am scrolling, clicking and sharing.
