In December 2009, Google began customizing its search results for each user. Instead of giving you the most broadly popular result, Google now tries to predict what you are most likely to click on. According to MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser, Google's change in policy is symptomatic of the most significant shift to take place on the Web in recent years-the rise of personalization. In this groundbreaking investigation of the new hidden Web, Pariser uncovers how this growing trend threatens to control how we consume and share information as a society-and reveals what we can do about it.Though the phenomenon has gone largely undetected until now, personalized filters are sweeping the Web, creating individual universes of information for each of us. Facebook-the primary news source for an increasing number of Americans-prioritizes the links it believes will appeal to you so that if you are a liberal, you can expect to see only progressive links. Even an old-media bastion like The Washington Post devotes the top of its home page to a news feed with the links your Facebook friends are sharing. Behind the scenes, a burgeoning industry of data companies is tracking your personal information to sell to advertisers, from your political leanings to the color you painted your living room to the hiking boots you just browsed on Zappos.In a personalized world, we will increasingly be typed and fed only news that is pleasant, familiar, and confirms our beliefs-and because these filters are invisible, we won't know what is being hidden from us. Our past interests will determine what we are exposed to in the future, leaving less room for the unexpected encounters that spark creativity, innovation, and the democratic exchange of ideas.While we all worry that the Internet is eroding privacy or shrinking our attention spans, Pariser uncovers a more pernicious and far-reaching trend and shows how we can-and must-change course. With vivid detail and remarkable scope, The Filter Bubble reveals how personalization undermines the Internet's original purpose as an open platform for the spread of ideas and could leave us all in an isolated, echoing world.

By:   Eli Pariser
Imprint:   Viking
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 22mm,  Width: 214mm,  Spine: 153mm
Weight:   363g
ISBN:  

9780670920389

ISBN 10:   067092038X
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   June 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  ELT Advanced ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock at Abbey's Bookshop
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Eli Pariser is a pioneer in online campaigning. He helped start Avaaz.org, one of the world's largest citizen organizations, and is now President of the five-million member MoveOn.org. He's a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. He has written for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Eli Pariser is worried. He cares deeply about our common social sphere and sees it in jeopardy. He has got me worried, too. A must-read David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect Anyone who cares about the future of [humanity] in a digital landscape should read this book - especially if it is not showing up in your recommended reads on Amazon Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc If you feel that the Web is your wide open window on the world, you need to read this book to understand what you aren't seeing Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget Internet firms increasingly show us less of the wide world, locating us in the neighborhood of the familiar. The risk, as Eli Pariser shows, is that each of us may unwittingly come to inhabit a ghetto of one Clay Shirky, author Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus You spend half your life in Internet space, but trust me - you don't understand how it works. This book is a masterpiece of investigation and interpretation Bill McKibben, author of Earth and founder of 350.org A must-read book about one of the central issues in contemporary culture: personalization Caterina Fake, co-founder of flickr

Eli Pariser is worried. He cares deeply about our common social sphere and sees it in jeopardy. He has got me worried, too. A must-read David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect Anyone who cares about the future of [humanity] in a digital landscape should read this book - especially if it is not showing up in your recommended reads on Amazon Douglas Rushkoff, author of Life Inc If you feel that the Web is your wide open window on the world, you need to read this book to understand what you aren't seeing Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget Internet firms increasingly show us less of the wide world, locating us in the neighborhood of the familiar. The risk, as Eli Pariser shows, is that each of us may unwittingly come to inhabit a ghetto of one Clay Shirky, author Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus You spend half your life in Internet space, but trust me - you don't understand how it works. This book is a masterpiece of investigation and interpretation Bill McKibben, author of Earth and founder of 350.org A must-read book about one of the central issues in contemporary culture: personalization Caterina Fake, co-founder of flickr