The Filter Bubble

When we search, shop and browse online, each of us is in our own “filter bubble” – a phrase first coined by Eli Pariser, whose TED Talk is below. Search engines such as Google, online shops such as Amazon and social networks such as Facebook track what we search, read, like and buy, and use this to customise our experience on their sites and apps. This is often a good thing – if you like watching cat videos, you’ll keep seeing more of them to watch. But for academic research it can be a bad thing.

When different people search for the same thing on search engines such as Google, they see different results on the first page. For some searches, the differences may be quite minor. But for controversial topics, there can be major differences, and you are likely to see only content which fits in with your existing opinions. In academic work, we try to consider alternative points of view – this can be tricky if you can’t see them! Here’s Eli Pariser’s TED Talk on this topic – it’s from 2011, but still relevant.

Actions you can take to reduce the impact of the filter bubble on your searching include:

• Clear your search history, including cookies – these are small files which keep a track of your internet activity.
• Try searching for the same topic, but with different words – perhaps the words which would be used by someone who has a different viewpoint than yours.
• Use a different web browser – if you usually use Microsoft Edge, for instance, try searching using Google Chrome or Firefox, which will not have access to as much of your history. Or a different device entirely – one you have never used before.

• Use an anonymous browser or VPN.
• Use a different search engine such as DuckDuckGo (see the next page).