With the growth of personalised search on the internet we are entering a new phase of media consumption. This can be classed as passive media individualism.
First of all it’s probably important to recognize and appreciate that Google and other search engines are a way of finding content, the media we refer to is this content as presented on the internet.
Personalisation in the search sphere exists to make your life easier – in that the search engines can show you things they think you want (so you get the right results faster) asnd they get the added benefit of better click through rates on their ads which can be much more targeted to your requirements.
The thing about all this is, your media consumption is left to the discretion of annonymous algorithms to determine, this is turn shapes the content that you are presented with.
Are search engines biased?
YES! Search Engine’s are biased in so many different ways, not only are they the face of corporations determined to make you click on their advertisements they are also software that is specifically designed to suit your preferences, you would think tis means better suiting your biases, however this is not necessarily the case.
By searching for a piece of information, or even lingering on a page of information for too long you could change the media you engage with on a day to day basis.
It’s important to realise that what you’re seeing in the Google search results isn’t objective unbiased results – keep that at the forefront of your mind (like most people understand when they are reading a newspaper) and you should be ok. If you don’t, and it’s likely most people won’t, there will be social consequences.
Personalised Search Creates an Insular Society
One of the best things about society is it allows people from all over the place to get in touch and interact with each other on a personal level, but imagine now if personalisation factors come into play that means you will never get to meet people that dislike things you like – and this is the way it’s going. In this world we have a group of individuals that live in their own insular little bubbles, gently bumping into like minded people in equally insular little bubbles. Never challenged. Where your views of the world get distilled into the perfect inward looking parody of your original views.
Personalisation is the future of web development
In the not too distant future websites with no elements of personalization are going to seem a bit quaint, people want the technology to help find find what they are looking. This could be the end of formal navigation, this could be the end of formal static design, this could be the fabled web3.0.
Get in touch with 2am today to find out more about how you can benefit from personalization of your visitors’ experience of your web solution.