Today, everything in our world has the potential to be completely personalized. From what you want on your sandwich to computer backgrounds, Facebook feeds and even search results, these things can be tailored just to fit who you are. Although this algorithm-based personalization is definitely convenient, I tend to have a love-hate relationship with computers telling me what they think I like.
Pretty much everything has some sort of algorithmic backbone online. Take Google for example, where their algorithm is used to gather search results based on interests. To me that’s kind of scary. If I type in “Barack Obama,” for example, I get pages like The Huffington Post, Esquire, his social media and, of course, Wikipedia. When my roommate types in the same thing, she gets pages like US News & World Report, Politico, CNN.com and Wikipedia as well. Without asking Google to do so, it gave me sources that tend to lean Democratic and a website that was critiquing Obama about the wage gap and other feminist issues.
This may not sound so bad. I see pages that I like reading. However, I do like to keep my political mind balanced, and it would be easy for me to get sucked into only seeing what I want to see about President Obama. That is troublesome to me because I believe reaffirming people’s beliefs every time they search for something on Google is only making the gap between Americans wider. How is that conducive to a functioning society?
This personalization of search results doesn’t stop at political issues: It tracks across every subject you can think of Googling. Facebook does the same thing as well. Facebook has the habit of subtracting things from your newsfeed it thinks you won’t like without your permission, based on what pages and statuses you like and don’t like. I don’t know about you guys, but I spend more time than I should on Facebook, and even that is personalized to reaffirm my beliefs. This could end up being detrimental to a majority of Americans, especially college students—the demographic that uses Facebook the most.
With all this personalization based on what algorithms think you like, it’s easy to get stuck in your own “bubble,” and things on the Internet no longer surprise you. There is no serendipity, and what you think is never challenged. This article is making me sound cynical about Internet personalization. Algorithms can make finding things I want on the Internet so much easier too.
When I get hungry, which is often, and I want something new to eat all I have to do is type in whatever kind of food I want to try. In less than a second, Google shows me restaurants on campus and in Madison that serve that type of food. Instead of typing in “Cheap Thai restaurants in Madison, WI,” I can just type in “Thai food.” The Google algorithm knows I’m a college student in Madison, so I obviously want cheap food in that area. Now, Google knows I like Thai food. Pretty soon I’m going to see advertisements for Thai food every time I’m on the Internet.
We all know Google is a Fortune 500 company which makes more money than most of us will ever see. That being said, they’re smart. They know how to use information about their users to their advantage, as well as making it look like an advantage to their consumers. Google tailors the ads you see to your likes, which is really great until I spend my rent money on concert tickets to see bands and merchandise to get me decked out for the show.
Again, Google knows I’m in Madison (not only because of algorithms, but my IP address and other things as well). It knows I like music blogs, music videos and Rolling Stone magazine. I have all the theaters in Madison liked on Facebook. No wonder 80 percent of the advertisements I see are for upcoming concerts. I literally made it too easy for Google. I swear Google knows I have nearly zero willpower to resist what they show me.
In the end I’ve come to this conclusion: Personalization can be convenient and has the power to be detrimental. It can help you spend the money you don’t have on stuff you definitely don’t need but can also fill you in on current events relevant to you. Either way, algorithms are here to stay. I mean after all, maybe they’ll help you get a good deal on your spring break getaway or find a new restaurant that you love. To my google-loving friends, be wary of what you’re seeing especially when looking up controversial topics; you never know who Google thinks you are.
