2 minute read
Tech Insights: Is your search engine only presenting one side?
by Laura Steward
I love reading. The smell of books, the texture of the pages, the cover and the rhythm of the writing transport me into worlds I could never imagine on my own. That is also one of the reasons I love technology. For me, technology can transport me to worlds near and far. Technology can get me out of my house without ever leaving it. Just like a book can.
What technology should not do is limit your access to information or present only one side of an issue. I’ve been asked my thoughts on the recent class action suit against Google and some of the social media sites. I’ve also been asked my opinion about artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Being a geek, I sometimes struggle with how to respond to the questions when they are asked. The reason? Because I see the value of the tech beyond what it has been narrowed into.
Let me explain. When Google first started out with their search engine, it was the best one out there. Still mostly is, but they have begun to limit search results based on many factors – and they’re not the only search engine doing that. AI is used to learn your behaviors and give you more of what you like. It predicts what may get you to click and the platforms make money by presenting you more of what you like. Your data is captured and sold to third parties or used to “sell” what an advertiser wants presented to you.
Most users don’t even realize how the algorithms guide you to think a certain way, buy a certain way, or act a certain way. When the algorithms were created, they were not intended to grow to the levels they have. Yet they have, and the companies see no reason to change them.
Have you ever wondered why you only see certain posts on social media? Why ads you see are the same kind of ads? Or even wondered why if you use Duck Duck Go, a competitor to Google Chrome, or Microsoft Bing, you can get quite different results from a search? It is all in their algorithms.
There are some ways to trick them, but it’s not easy for the average user. Technology is here to stay and is very useful. I suggest taking the results of your searches with a grain of salt and trying Firefox or Duck Duck Go or a few different ones to compare your results before believing what is presented.
Same goes for social media. If you want to make sure someone’s posts show up in your feed, you need to comment on their posts to let the algorithm know you care. Click on the three dots in a post and say you don’t want to see those ads. If you are seeing posts from people you don’t know, click on the three dots in the corner and say I want to see less of these. Just be careful not to block a friend you do want to see or call them spam. Doing so could get them blacklisted.
My parents always taught me that “just because it is print doesn’t make it true.” So double and triple check and use several different search engines before you decide that the result you see is the only possibility.
