The Filter Bubble

"There is no standard Google anymore"

This quote from the TED-Ed Lesson by Eli Pariser explains my takeaway and the overarching effects of the filter bubble. These invisible algorithmic editing tools are creating an internet that shows us what it thinks we want to see, not what necessarily what we need to see. For this reason, everyone's search engine looks differently.

I was so surprised when Eli was describing a search done by two of his friends. They both had drastically different results, even though they typed the same thing into the search bar. 

After hearing this story I immediately began to compare all my searches to my Pandora account. I knew that Pandora chooses my next song based on songs that I have given a 'thumbs up' to, and which songs I have skipped - that is why I love Pandora! It is personalized to my music taste. However, do I want that for my Google searches? I am not convinced. I need to be exposed to more when I rely so heavily on the internet. This gives me more belief in the fact that various sources need to be checked before confirming a belief or viewpoint.

Not only is Google varying our search results, but Facebook is also. According to the article Facebook Redesigns Trending Topics in its War on Filter Bubbles by Jessica Conditt the latest redesign regarding Facebook's filter bubbles now allows a carousel of publications writing about a news event, rather than a single news source. I find this to be a step in the right direction! Exposing users to a variety of sources is how they can come to a well educated conclusion on the topic, rather than one based on what Facebook thinks we will want to read.