Who should account for the lack of diversity of our sources of News feed?

Have you ever heard the word “filter bubble”? I got to know this term in Eli Pariser’s TED talk. Filter bubble is an information circle caused by websites’ algorithm which can isolate you from the information you need to know, but only offer you the information you like and feel comfortable with. Websites use algorithms to filter information which they think we would like to see and click. It is shocking to me, because I realized that I might see the only small part of the whole world, because I was isolated in the filter bubble.

After Pariser calling on the names of people building websites to provide us users with information not only relevant and important but also challenging and uncomfortable, Facebookstarted to test it and redesign trending topics. In the war with filter bubble, Facebook made an effort to filter out fake-news articles. What’s more, it attempted to provide more other points of view. In this article, it said “If you click on a trending topic on Facebook in your iPhone now, instead of a single news source, you will see a carousel pf publications writing about that item.” The update will also happen in Android and desktop soon.

 

However, is the algorithm the only one responsible for the lack of diversity of your News feed? No! According to Pariser’s new article, the filter bubble effect is undeniable, however it is not as significant as we thought. Facebook did a study using significant amount of date about this. Instead of the website’s algorithms, you friends play a more important role in your News Feed. People tend to follow or friend others who hold similar believes to themselves, which limit their sources of other points of view. Therefore, Facebook is say: “I’s not our fault! You do it too!”