Filter bubble
Encyclopedia
A filter bubble is a concept developed by Internet
activist Eli Pariser
in his book by the same name to describe a phenomenon in which websites use algorithms to selectively guess what information a user would like to see based on information about the user like location, past click behaviour and search history. As a result websites tend to show only information which agrees with the user's past viewpoint. Prime examples are Google
's personalized search results and Facebook
's personalized news stream. According to Pariser, users get less exposure to conflicting viewpoints and are isolated intellectually in their own informational bubble. Pariser related an example in which one user searched Google for "BP" and got investment news about British Petroleum while another searcher got information about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
and that the two search results pages were "strikingly different." The bubble effect may have negative implications for civic discourse, according to Pariser, but there are contrasting views suggesting the effect is minimal.
of information
that's been catered by these algorithm
s". Other terms have been used to describe this phenomenon, including "ideological frames" or a "figurative sphere surrounding you as you search the Internet." The past search history is built up over time when an Internet user indicates interest in topics by "clicking links, viewing friends, putting movies in your queue, reading news stories" and so forth. An Internet firm then uses this information to target advertising to the user or make it appear more prominently in a search results query page. Pariser's concern is somewhat similar to one made by Tim Berners-Lee in a 2010 report in The Guardian
along the lines of a Hotel California
effect which happens when Internet social networking sites were walling off content from other competing sites––as a way of grab a greater share of all Internet users––such that the "more you enter, the more you become locked in" to the information within a specific Internet site. It becomes a "closed silo of content" with the risk of fragmenting the Worldwide Web, according to Berners-Lee.
Pariser in The Filter Bubble warns that a potential downside to filtered searching is that it "closes us off to new ideas, subjects, and important information" and "creates the impression that our narrow self-interest is all that exists." It is potentially harmful to both individuals and society, in his view. He criticized Google
and Facebook
for offering users "too much candy, and not enough carrots," He warned that "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" may "limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook." According to Pariser, the detrimental effects of filter bubbles include harm to the general society in the sense that it has the possibility of "undermining civic discourse" and making people more vulnerable to "propaganda and manipulation." He wrote:
search results; he said "the effects of search personalization have been light." Further, there are reports that users can shut off personalization features on Google if they choose by deleting the Web history and by other methods. A spokesperson for Google suggested that algorithm
s were added to Google search engines to deliberately "limit personalization and promote variety."
Nevertheless, there are reports that Google and other sites have vast information which might enable them to further personalize a user's Internet experience if they chose to do so. One account suggested that Google can keep track of user past histories even if they don't have a personal Google account or are not logged in to one. One report was that Google has collected "10 years worth" of information amassed from varying sources, such as Gmail, Maps, and other services besides its search engine, although a contrary report was that trying to personalize the Internet for each user was technically challenging for an Internet firm to achieve despite the huge amounts of available web data. Analyst Doug Gross of CNN
suggested that filtered searching seemed to be more helpful for consumer
s than for citizen
s, and would help a consumer looking for "pizza" find local delivery options based on a personalized search and appropriately filter out distant pizza stores. There is agreement that sites within the Internet, such as the Washington Post, The New York Times
, and others are pushing efforts towards creating personalized information engines, with the principle being tailoring search results to ones which users are likely to like or agree with.
and fails to learn what he or she really needs to know, and can be caught in a kind of intellectual blind spot. This phenomenon has been described as the relevance paradox
and it has happened in many situations throughout human intellectual development, and is an important issue for science
and education
. A book entitled The IRG Solution predicted and analysed this problem and suggested a generalised solution.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
activist Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser is the former Executive Director of MoveOn.org, and the organization's current Board President....
in his book by the same name to describe a phenomenon in which websites use algorithms to selectively guess what information a user would like to see based on information about the user like location, past click behaviour and search history. As a result websites tend to show only information which agrees with the user's past viewpoint. Prime examples are Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
's personalized search results and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
's personalized news stream. According to Pariser, users get less exposure to conflicting viewpoints and are isolated intellectually in their own informational bubble. Pariser related an example in which one user searched Google for "BP" and got investment news about British Petroleum while another searcher got information about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010, and continues to leak fresh oil. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry...
and that the two search results pages were "strikingly different." The bubble effect may have negative implications for civic discourse, according to Pariser, but there are contrasting views suggesting the effect is minimal.
The concept
Pariser defined his concept of filter bubble in more formal terms as "that personal ecosystemEcosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
of information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
that's been catered by these algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s". Other terms have been used to describe this phenomenon, including "ideological frames" or a "figurative sphere surrounding you as you search the Internet." The past search history is built up over time when an Internet user indicates interest in topics by "clicking links, viewing friends, putting movies in your queue, reading news stories" and so forth. An Internet firm then uses this information to target advertising to the user or make it appear more prominently in a search results query page. Pariser's concern is somewhat similar to one made by Tim Berners-Lee in a 2010 report in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
along the lines of a Hotel California
Hotel California (song)
"Hotel California" is the title song from the Eagles' album of the same name and was released as a single in February 1977. It is one of the best-known songs of the album-oriented rock era. Writing credits for the song are shared by Don Felder, Don Henley and Glenn Frey...
effect which happens when Internet social networking sites were walling off content from other competing sites––as a way of grab a greater share of all Internet users––such that the "more you enter, the more you become locked in" to the information within a specific Internet site. It becomes a "closed silo of content" with the risk of fragmenting the Worldwide Web, according to Berners-Lee.
Pariser in The Filter Bubble warns that a potential downside to filtered searching is that it "closes us off to new ideas, subjects, and important information" and "creates the impression that our narrow self-interest is all that exists." It is potentially harmful to both individuals and society, in his view. He criticized Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
for offering users "too much candy, and not enough carrots," He warned that "invisible algorithmic editing of the web" may "limit our exposure to new information and narrow our outlook." According to Pariser, the detrimental effects of filter bubbles include harm to the general society in the sense that it has the possibility of "undermining civic discourse" and making people more vulnerable to "propaganda and manipulation." He wrote:
Reactions
There are conflicting reports about the extent to which personalized filtering is happening and whether such activity is beneficial or harmful. Analyst Jacob Weisberg writing in Slate Magazine did a small non-scientific experiment to test Pariser's theory which involved five associates with different ideological backgrounds conducting the exact same search -- the results of all five search queries were nearly identical across four different searches, suggesting that a filter bubble was not in effect, which led him to write that a situation in which all people are "feeding at the trough of a Daily Me" was overblown. Book reviewer Paul Boutin did a similar experiment among people with differing search histories, and found results similar to Weisberg's with nearly identical search results. Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain disputed the extent to which personalization filters distort GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
search results; he said "the effects of search personalization have been light." Further, there are reports that users can shut off personalization features on Google if they choose by deleting the Web history and by other methods. A spokesperson for Google suggested that algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
s were added to Google search engines to deliberately "limit personalization and promote variety."
Nevertheless, there are reports that Google and other sites have vast information which might enable them to further personalize a user's Internet experience if they chose to do so. One account suggested that Google can keep track of user past histories even if they don't have a personal Google account or are not logged in to one. One report was that Google has collected "10 years worth" of information amassed from varying sources, such as Gmail, Maps, and other services besides its search engine, although a contrary report was that trying to personalize the Internet for each user was technically challenging for an Internet firm to achieve despite the huge amounts of available web data. Analyst Doug Gross of CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
suggested that filtered searching seemed to be more helpful for consumer
Consumer
Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
s than for citizen
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
s, and would help a consumer looking for "pizza" find local delivery options based on a personalized search and appropriately filter out distant pizza stores. There is agreement that sites within the Internet, such as the Washington Post, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, and others are pushing efforts towards creating personalized information engines, with the principle being tailoring search results to ones which users are likely to like or agree with.
Related concepts
The filter bubble concept is similar to a phenomenon in which people and organisations seek information which is initially perceived as relevant but which turns out to be useless or on in fact only partially useful, and avoid information perceived as irrelevant but which turns out to be useful. The problem happens because the real relevance of a particular fact or concept in these cases is only apparent only after that fact has become known. Before that, the idea of learning a particular fact may have been dismissed because of a misperception of irrelevance. Accordingly, the information seeker is trapped in a paradoxParadox
Similar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...
and fails to learn what he or she really needs to know, and can be caught in a kind of intellectual blind spot. This phenomenon has been described as the relevance paradox
Relevance Paradox
The relevance paradox describes an attempt to gather information relevant to a decision, which fails because the elimination of information perceived as distracting or unnecessary and thus detrimental to making an optimal decision, also excludes information that is actually crucial.-Definition:In...
and it has happened in many situations throughout human intellectual development, and is an important issue for science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. A book entitled The IRG Solution predicted and analysed this problem and suggested a generalised solution.