My recent exposure to Eli Pariser’s TED Talk on online “filter bubbles” led me to an awareness of my ignorance towards the inevitable personalization of online-media pages. Pariser spoke on the automatic process of filtering posts, articles, and search results to a user’s previous preferences online.
In recent months, I noticed that the same friends and acquaintances reappeared on my feed daily, while others did not, and till now, I did not have a reason for this occurrence. The reason photography articles, animal videos, and post on the LGBT movement appear on my newsfeed more than my boyfriend’s posts is because Facebook uses my answers to the “About Questions” and previous viewing of certain puppy videos and articles to filter out what I would not find interesting.
Beyond my disturbed curiosity of what Facebook removed from my viewing, I question the influence in which these filters have on the individual’s identity and online identity. Beth Anderson et al. states virtual media seems “to offer more scope for control or variation of identity than in the real world; they seem to provide an environment in which identity is malleable and the reality or fantasy boundary can be blurred” (Anderson et al. 28). The online persona is easily changed by the user, but if certain preferences are suggested due to one’s peers, I am curious of the filter bubbles’ influence on the user’s decisions on the socially acceptable answers to the “About Questions.” The second consideration is that with exposure to posts that reinforce personal views and ideas alone, the self is unable to experience challenging perspectives that encourage development and expansion of ideas. On media, the online and offline identity is closed off from alternative views and receive little motivation to seek other arguments.
Pariser, Eli. Beware online “filter bubbles.” Ted Talks, Mar. 2011. Web. 11 Sep. 2014. <https://www.ted.com/talks/>
Anderson, Beth, et al. “Facebook Psychology: Popular Questions Answered By Research.” Psychology Of Popular Media Culture 1.1 (2012): 23-37. PsycARTICLES. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.