"Filter bubbles" Within the Internet

It is amazing how again and again we are surprised to know the amount of control other people have over things we considered to be free with. The internet is seen as a place where all kinds of information is at your fingertips, ready to be discovered by us. However, companies such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc are invisibly controlling the flow of information that we receive. How? Through the use of “filters”. These filters or algorithms are designed to monitor our browsing to determine our interests and therefore determine what information to show us. For example, I tend to scour the gaming sites, looking for updates on the latest Nintendo games. Now if I log into facebook, suddenly all the advertisements at the side are mostly relevant at what I had search and read in the sites I chose before. Google “video games” and chances are that the majority of the results I get will be related to Nintendo. In short, these filters personalize our experience of the internet to our wants, but not our needs.
I do believe these “filter bubbles” are becoming a danger to our online lives. At first, it may sound quite nice to have the web personalized to what we'd like to see… but is what we like to see always a good thing? We also need to see and know about things that aren’t necessarily are pleasant or very interesting to us. Certain things such as issues or conflicts happening around the world could be easily accessible, but if these filters determine what we should see, then we can be seriously lacking in knowledge. As the saying goes “knowledge is power” and if we live our lives clueless to the outside world, then how will humanity progress as a whole? Limiting us in what we are able to see by others not only allows for easier manipulation but leads us to live close-minded lives, not hearing both sides of a story.

Social Networking in Obama's 2008 Campaign

     Perhaps the one of the main reasons Barack Obama was elected was because his campaign was able to not only use the internet to gain support, but the Obama campaign also provided the tools to allow their supports to contribute to the cause as well. Traditionally, it would be mostly the job of campaign committee to organize events and recruit supporters towards the candidate. However, with the ever increasing usage of the social media, now it is easier than ever to successfully gain broader attention and attain supporters without wasting too much effort.

     As mentioned in the article, the Obama campaign set up a social networking site called www.my.barackobama.com. This site was set up to allow users to create an account and contribute to the campaign by giving them the tools to allow them to organize events. The website provided the tools for users to round up volunteers within their communities to get together and plan events. The website provided contact details of all the users, making it easy to communicate with each other.

     Perhaps was made it very successful was the fact that the people themselves were able to navigate the site without so much difficulty. You can only do so much on a site if the website itself doesn’t work. People tend to get discouraged quite easily if the site is lagging or showing error messages too often. The article mentions for example that McCain also had a social networking site, but it was rather ineffective because users had too much trouble navigating the site. The site has to be maintained and updated regularly if you are to keep people visiting your site.

     In addition, people nowadays are constantly using social networking sites in their daily lives. People post on Facebook, tweets and blog everyday and millions of people around the world are able to see it. To have an online presence can give you a very good advantage in being recognizable and also to effectively make you message known to wider audiences.

"Growing Up Online"

The issues raised in the program are real interesting. Of course I already knew these issues existed, but it's good to be reminded of just how pressing of a problem it is. I vaguely remember what life was before the internet. But it was indeed very different. But ever since the internet and computers became easily accessible, it has become an integral part of my life. I am sure that rings true to many other people around the world, especially for youngsters of recent generations. As it is mentioned in the presentation, the internet allows us to openly and easily connect with other people that live not just a couple of miles away, but also with people in other countries around the world. Privacy is no longer once as valuable as it once was. People upload on various social networks pretty much their lives for everyone to look at. However, I see the internet as a double-edged sword. It can be beneficial at times, but at others… not so much.
What really stood out to me the most was that one of the focuses wasn't so much the risk of child predators online (however, it doesn’t change the fact that it is still a grave problem), but cyberbullying. Bullying has always existed, but now with the introduction of the internet, it has become the bullies’ new weapon. It wasn’t until recently that cyberbullying became a big topic on the news media. I will say that I find that very disappointing, since apparently people do not seem to realize just how much ill-intentioned words can hurt a person, whether it is spoken verbal or online. Due to the internet being so public and easily accessible, many ill-intentioned people use that to their advantage. No longer do they have to insult someone in their face; they can comfortably speak trash to anyone in the comfort of their home and even worse, do so anonymously. I will use Tumblr, a blogging site as an example. People take advantage of the anonymous feature of sending "asks" to spew out insults towards the respective blogger. I am an avid user of Tumblr and haven't fallen victim to that myself, but I have seen many blogs get attacked in that very way. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people behind the blogs already have problems in their life, only to have their life made worse by cyberbullying. As mentioned in the program, the most scary aspect about it that you never know who it really is that's doing it. It could have been your best friend for all you know. It is downright unsettling. It makes you feel as if no one can be trusted, no one for you to have sound conversation with. Unfortunately, I’m sure many of you have heard of the most dire consequences of cyberbullying, whether you experienced it personally or not: suicide. It is most sickening and inhuman to drive a person to commit such a thing and sadly cyberbullying is leading many people to do so faster. The internet has made it easier now for people to be driven to that point by the constant insults from people that could very well be people you care about. However, I am not saying everything about the internet is bad. In the same way that people can easily communicate trash to others, people can also comfort each other and become and unite friends from around the world. Everyone can instantly communicate with each other in the comfort of your home. I will end on this note: the internet is merely a powerful tool that people wield. It becomes bad or good depending on how that person wields it.