Google search and the filter bubble effect.

http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2012/10/magic-keywords-on-google-and-the-consequences-of-search-tailoring-results.html?v=

This article is about a modern online phenomenon referred to as a filter bubble which is a term used to describe how for each and every individual there is a very specific set of Google search results even when people search for the exact same thing. This function is made as one of convenience as when we Google something lets say weather forecast we want the weather relevant to us and where we are not somewhere else and this is obviously a helpful function Google provides but as this article points out there is a notable downside.

In modern day life when we want to know about a topic what most people do is a quick Google search which can be done with the advent of mobiles and tablet computing from virtually anywhere at any time but this filter bubble effect may mean that the results we receive about our Googled topic are almost certainly already biased towards us and is simply telling us what we want to hear. This is a topic of vital importance in today’s modern culture in which we use Google to inform ourselves about many important decisions such as who we vote for. This filter bubble effect is studied in this article and they find it goes much deeper than one may expect.

As of this year with Googles privacy policy has changed (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/google-tracks-consumers-across-products-users-cant-opt-out/2012/01/24/gIQArgJHOQ_story.html ) which means that they can integrate all of your information gathered from their growing range of services such as YouTube and blogger along with their information obtained via Google search and use this both to more effectively advertise at you but as an added side effect this also increases the filter bubble effect by allowing Google to use even more information to personalize your search.

In this article they point out one of the many ways in which Google filters your information one example is what the article calls “magic words” which are key words that when searched have an effect on your searches afterwards. The example that they use is the word Obama and how if you Google Obama and then afterwards Google an issue such as gun control you are far more likely to get results based on Obama and gun control. This has very obvious repercussions as if one was let’s say an Obama supporter wanting to find out about a political issue such as gun control there is a strong chance there filter bubble would lead them to heavily biased information that would merely strengthen their current views rather than help them make an informed decision on the topic.

In conclusion I think that this is a very serious issue especially  in the current cultural climate as I have said before in which Google is the first place most people turn to for reliable information on a range of important topics from politics to health to law .  In doing psychology we see the importance of accepting empirical evidence and getting all the facts before making an informed decision especially on important issues and this is something that can be very hard to do when the very thing you use to search for information is already conforming to your personal bias. Thankfully many people have noticed this growing problem and there are alternative search engines such as DuckDuckGo (http://duckduckgo.com/ ) which combat the issue by not creating any form of filter bubble at all.
It is yet to be seen if this will be effective as currently all attempts at alternative search engines fall short of Googles efficiency but at the very least perhaps competition will drive google to come up with their own solution perhaps allowing you to turn off your filter bubble thereby providing you with the best of both worlds in terms of functionality and reliable unbiased searching for important issues.