Appealing to your Audience

     I, for one, have never paid much attention to the types of information that I am given when I search something on the internet.  I have always assumed that everyone will get the same search results that I do.  The reason that I thought this was because, honestly, I didn't think that Google would care to choose for me what information that deemed appropriate for me to see. Why do they even care?  I mean, seriously.  Who wants to sit in a room and keep a track on what I view on MY computer.  Honestly, it's really no one's business.  I understand that it's the internet and people do try to hack people's computers for credit card numbers and such, but is it really such important knowledge that I like to play on Etsy for hours?  Do TPTB really care that I like to watch concert videos on youtube?  Probably not, but I will admit it is pretty cool when YouTube knows my favorite music. :) Check out what I found on the site. A nice listing of these they thought I may enjoy because of videos that I had watched in this past.  Why yes; I would enjoy those! Thanks for asking!

     I gave the topic of the "Filter Bubble" some thought after I watched this video for one of my Graduate School classes.  I thought it made some pretty good points and obviously, from the paragraph above, you can tell I had never given it much thought.  Yes, the filter bubble may exist, but is that a bad thing?  For some it may be, but for others not so much. 

                                                                                                      

     In reference to the "Filter Bubble" he makes statements about the internet being balanced and that that we should not be subjected to what the internet thinks we want to see; that we should be given an aray of information and we should be able to make the choice.  I am not going to disagree with this point (quite yet), but this does get me thinking.  I mentioned earlier that I had never paid much attention to what the internet shows me when I "Google" or "Bing" something.  I think the main reason behind that is because they are showing me what I want to see.  I enjoy the fact that "my internet" is tailored to what I want to see.  For instance, when it comes to politics, I do not want to read what a liberal mind thinks because, in all honesty, it just gets me frustrated and I'm pretty sure my blood pressure shoots up.  I don't mind people that disagree with me and I don't mind having intelligent conversations with people, but when I cannot state my opinion back to someone it just seems like a complete waste of my time.  This is where I think the "Filter Bubble" comes in handy; it doesn't give me things that I do not care about seeing.  In the video he shows that things have been filtered out on Facebook by TPTB because of certain links that he clicks on.  Personally, I have never had that happen to me.  He mentions that he did not like it, but I would enjoy some filtering on some occassions.  For some reason my Facebook does not know me well enough to know that I am an Auburn fan.  If it did I wouldn't have to get on my Facebook and see something related to Alabama on my newsfeed.  Filtering, in my opinion, is a good thing because things you don't want to see are not there. 


Co-Worker Search

My Search

     All of this talk of the "Filter Bubble" has me thinking about my recent searches and such.  I do believe that, yes, certain websites may filter things.  I know that websites where purchases are made do filter.  That is easy to tell because they recommend things for you from things that you may have purchased.  Amazon is notorious for this.  They have recommendations for you throughout your purchase and then, BAM!, you check your e-mail for your confirmation and there are some more.  It's almost like you can't get away from them.  This being said, I have never actually run into the filtering on search engines and such.  I type in anything and I get a general list of results.  For instance, my co-worker and I typed in "owls" by using Google and we got the exact same results, with the exception of some images on my search page.
                                                                                       
I understand Mr. Pariser's viewpoint, but I just happen to disagree with it.  I find that my viewpoint differs from his since he says, "If we are trapped in a filter bubble and not exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview it could prove to be bad for us and our democracy."  It is our democracy and the freedom to make our own choices that gives me the ability to disagree with him.  I do not feel that my life nor my sense of thought is in jeopardy because I disagree with the use of the "Filter Bubble."  I feel that I have all of my thoughts in order and that what I believe is right, so I do not need to be swayed one way or another by some search engine that wants me to become more "worldly" by showing me things that do not relate to anything that I search for.  I do not want my Google search randomnly popping up things about different religions because I put in a search for christianity.  My opinion of the whole thing: If I wanted to search for it, then I would search for it.  Just like he thinks that we should not be subjected to things that Google thinks we should see, which in turn makes it things we want to see; I do not think we should be subjected to seeing things we do not want to see.