Personalized results

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/mind-control-and-internet
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/st_thompson_homophily

An issue with sites such as google and facebook are that they attempt to show you what they believe you would want to see, rather than what is best to see/more universal results. They do this based on what you search on do on sites not limited to their own. This results in someone of a certain political affiliation only seeing articles and posts from companies, organizations, and people who have similar views as them. These sorts of algorithms contribute to polarization, limiting ones exposure to opposing views while radically altering their view on how popular or unpopular certain views, policies, or people are. The man in the TED Talk refers to this as online "filter bubbles" your own universe of information that depends on what you do and filters out things that don't match your viewpoints and preferences without your consultation.

The articles "Mind Control & the Internet also takes issue with how results work on the internet. Google aims to fit the profile of the person making a query rather than giving universal results. Searching has become personalized. You're exposed to things tht reinforce your views and assumptions. In a study in the spring issue of Sociological Quarterly that examined Republicans and Democrats attitudes towards climate change between 2001 and 2010, it was found that "the percentage of Republicans who said that the planet was beginning to warm dropped precipitously, from 49 percent to 29 percent. For Democrats, the percentage went up, from 60 percent to 70 percent". On top of this, google search pulls up results based on what it deems important, but based on other peoples' understanding of what is important. Not to mention that companies pay for links in order to get themselves higher up the results and more likely to be seen in searches. Pages with little visits stay low in the results and are rarely seen - kept out of view.

The article "Clive Thompson on High-Bandwidth buddies" talks about some people who believe that people only seeking and receiving like-minded peers and information may not always diminish the diversity of ones info diet and actually improve it - a more positive view on personalization than in the TED Talk and article "Mind Control & the Internet". An argument presented is that although weak ties are better positioned to bring one new info, people arent likely to interact with those with views they oppose anywhere near as much as friends they agree with. "If you interact with your friend 10 times more often, the odds suddenly tip toward their being a more valuable source of news."