Puppet Masters

What Facebook and Google are hiding from world

Eli Pariser
TED Talks
Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:23 UTC

Ever wonder why you get different search results from entering the same keywords as your friends? Google et al's takeover of the internet has turned it into a mirror which feeds back the junk in our minds because search results are tailored by algorithmic gatekeepers to create individualised "filter bubbles". Watch Eli Pariser explain how it works:

Reader Comments

Luke · 2011-09-28T05:19:38Z

search engine optimisation.

This is an industry.

Google it if you want.

gypsyheart59baby · 2011-09-28T06:43:22Z

Enlightened

Thank you TED.COM for this important information.

nuggatron · 2011-09-28T07:31:52Z

Competition

This is a big opening of a google rival that incorporates the ideas of openness and mutual relationships.

mosaicvic · 2011-09-28T08:08:15Z

Free Internet

The internet altered the world more than 9-11. It opened so many doors of intrigue for billions of people. That is a lot of people waiting to get in. The internet is perhaps the reason why 2008 saw an economic collapse. Information is buzzing all over this planet. I wonder what sound it is generating.

There are probably a billion people online as I write this. The internet is a powerful tool of manipulation and communication. The evolution of this technology is in question. TV's and The Internet will merge and will soon be the common sight in homes. Everything is digital and everything is easily monitored and accessible. When I sign on Google, I think nothing of the silly word. Imagine going back in time and describing Google, Yahoo, and Facebook to a citizen. Just go back to 1980 and describe it. Then describe Lady Ga Ga. You might be put away. We are living in a strange and peculiar time. Imagine if the internet never came to be. What other invention would be shaping the world? The next invention? I wonder what it will be.

I love that I can access information quickly as I explore history and science. I enjoy checking out the stories in SOTT. Learning about how the stock market operates has been awesome. Google Finance is full of information about companies.

The social sites are strange and full of yick yack. Quitting facebook was a great feeling. I enjoyed it for a couple of years reconnecting but when all these stupid apps appeared and the consumerism came in ...then, religious zealots....then, the virtual strangers. These folks are always online. I have no idea if some group in China is monitoring my activity online.

What if the Roman Catholic Church bought Google? Imagine the consequences of such a purchase. What if the China Government bought Google? Monitoring citizens search and consumer activity suddenly turns into a vulgar witch hunt of accused dissidents. The internet can be entrapping. Perhaps the best idea for this information technology is to turn it back it to a University research database and keep the consumerism and yick yack out.

Luke · 2011-09-28T09:00:12Z

Actually,

I think they have reasons for personalised searches since after all it is a commercial environment where owners of websites want to target people who are interested in what they have to offer. So there justification is for example, on the part of the guys that searched up 'EGYPT', one might be more interested in knowing the news of what is going on egypt based on there previous searches and clickstream whilst the other is more interested in facts/history/vacation type results based on there history of searches.

Is it right/wrong for people to receive different results? I don't know, probably an ethical question but advertisers and these companies such as google or yahoo make money by offering these kinds of services. After all, you personally don't pay to use google or yahoo, they got to make money from somewhere else...

Luke · 2011-09-28T09:08:34Z

Another example, take SOTT, maybe through the service - highly unlikely - one of these programs might notice that someone is interested in alternative/nonmainstream ideas/news and instead of giving him BBC or CNN when searching up news stories as the top results, it might rank a website like SOTT higher on the list for this specific person to meet his specific needs whilst another person might get BBC/CNN as the top sites.

Problem with that is mainstream sites will always out-rank non-mainstream sites so maybe that wasn't the best example but you get the idea.

Rowan Cocoan · 2011-09-28T09:25:49Z

Google/Yahoo Ever Rank SOTT HIGHER? HAH!

Google/Yahoo Ever Rank SOTT HIGHER? HAH!

Try to just type in SOTT on google. It will "assume" you wanted "Scott" no matter how many times it - or its algorithms - KNOWS that's you've been here!!!

They've got the records...

R.C.

rs1 · 2011-09-28T10:28:58Z

Au contraire!

When I type it in, sott.net is at the top of the list!

Rowan Cocoan · 2011-09-28T11:03:38Z

R.C. here. Call me floored! I just typed into google, "SOTT" and I too got it! Never before, though - I SWEAR!*! (I should have re-tested before I wrote that - last time was about a month - two, max - ago...)

I stand corrected. Thank you and Apologies.

R.C.

*And please don't think I'm protesting too much... :-)

dimichsdg · 2011-10-02T04:11:33Z

To disable personalized ...

searches, use this tip: [Link]
That of course does not guarantee there is no hidden filters that we are not aware of.

Get ready to run for the hills. I hope.

LindaMay

The Land of Spirituality LOL Garbage

LindaMay

Comment: Which is not far-fetched because a number of European nations stated exactly the same intention: Netherlands to shut down 3,000 farms to...

codis

Sounds like Poland is ready to surrender and become an outpost of the US empire, they'll get free legions of Americans stationed in their...

HashAttack2

Whilst on the subjects of scams to steal public money, I recently read that Denmark will now buy military equipment from the Ukraine MIC ( LOL )...

HashAttack2

Puppet Masters

What Facebook and Google are hiding from world

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