In Eli Pariser’s introduction of his book “The Filter Bubble”, he explains how Google has personalized users’ search results since the December of 2009. This means that Google does not standardize all search results for every person when they type a topic or issue in the Google search engine. I have decided to test the personalization of Google by typing muse in the Google search engine. The reason why I have type the word muse into the Google search engine was that muse was one of my favorite words and also the name of one of my favorite bands as well. The results that had appeared top to bottom were the band Muse’s official webpage, the Wikipedia page of the band Muse, and thirdly the Wikipedia page of the Muses which were the nine goddesses in Greek mythology who control and symbolize nine types of art known to ancient Greece. The list of results made sense to me as I often go on the official webpage and Wikipedia page of the band Muse to see the latest news on their music and when and where concerts will be held, though the Muses and Greek mythology are of little interest to me at the moment.
When I ask my friend Chris to search for the term muse on Google, the exact top three results were the same. Although Chris has never even heard of the band of Muse or listened to their music before, I am not all that surprised at the same results that had turned up for both of us. The term muse isn’t a term that is used often, and the Muses are not as big household names for the general public as Greek goddesses such as Athena and Aphrodite. To further prove the legitimacy of these results the band Muse are relatively popular throughout the world and have even won a Grammy for best rock album. Thus the search results makes sense as the band Muse is the most relevant reference to the general public’s interests when the public thinks of the world.
Individualized search is not a disadvantage for Internet users in terms of short term usage, however in terms of long term usage, individualized search makes the formation of new interests about topics and issues more difficult. The difficulty of learning new material while on the Internet is due to personalizing the information that we have at a certain time of our lives. From one day to the next, our information and interests could change gradually with time, thus who we are now is not going to be who we are in the future. The knowledge distribution would be slanted toward our interests and our opinions on a certain issue so that there will be less encountering on articles that provide an opposing opinion to ours. The Internet is a space for free knowledge and ideas it’s just that personalization would make search for free information and knowledge would make searching easier or harder depending on what you are looking for.
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