Does it annoy you when you get recommendations for clothing, books, web sites, etc..as your looking on Instagram, Facebook or just random websites? Sometimes it’s creepy and frustrating and I can’t believe that somebody knows all my everything…. and then sometimes I think it makes the world a smaller place and I appreciate and even click on some of the links.
I was reading the Sunday NY Times and they had a really interesting and thought provoking article titled “Having Built a Bubble, Sites Sell a Way Out” or online it’s titled “How to Escape your Political Bubble for a Clearer View”. It says that “the filter bubble describes the tendency of social networks like Facebook and Twitter to lock users into personalized feedback loops, …” and it makes total sense. Everyone was so shocked that Trump won and how could it have happened. Well, if all your “feeds” and “likes” are about say “Hillary Clinton” or “I’m With Her”, you probably got bombarded by websites that backed her, articles about her, etc…. I encourage you to read the entire article because it goes on to say that those same websites, FB/Twitter, etc.. and other companies are trying to broaden how you see things, giving options for plug-ins to broaden your feeds.
So, yeah, it can sometimes be annoying for the world-wide-web to know everything about you, but the feed back can also give you a false sense that everything you’re thinking and doing in terms of politics is in line with the majority…which obviously wasn’t the case this past election. Okay, yes, Clinton did win the majority, but let’s face it, most who voted for her never thought there was any chance of Trump winning…electorate, majority or anything…and your feedback on social media didn’t help that perception.
On a lighter note, I have received lots of good recommendations via those feeds for books, some fun & funky clothes, must-see places to go in a city that I’ll be traveling to or just random events around Orange County. So all that spying can come in handy at times.
There’s so much happening so quickly on the internet that it’s hard to keep up with all the plug-ins, websites, apps, etc…. but I’m confidant that there are companies that will keep trying to “help” and persuade us in a certain direction….be alert, be vigilant, come to your own conclusions!
(PS…IF YOU’RE A WINDOWS 10 USER AND WANT TO OPT-OUT OF SOME SPYING CHECK OUT THIS “HOW TO” ARTICLE)
