Book Review: Several Questions About Filter Bubble

MC7019： Several Questions About Filter Bubble

The first book I read in English is Harry Potter. The mysterious power of magic described by J.K Rowling is so enchanting that it made me immerse in the dream of being a witch, although I understand it is just a fairy tale. However, Eli Pariser’s Filter Bubble made me realize that magic maybe really existed. The new personalized web can make our information environment looks like exactly what we wanted it like, and make ourselves turn to the persons what we want to be, at least in the virtual space. However, magic is just magic, when magic fade, the exposure of reality would make us realize how much we have missed for immersing us into the illusory world. It’s a good book. In this book, Eli give us a compelling deep-dive into the invisible algorithmic editing on the web, a world where we are being show more of what algorithms think we want to see and less we should see. Based on Eli’s theory, I have few questions about Filter Babble.

First, would the existence of filter babble affect the existence of the spiral of silence?

What is the filter babble?　EP said: “Your filter bubble is the personal universe of information that you live in online — unique and constructed just for you by the array of personalized filters that now power the web…It’s a comfortable place, the filter bubble — by definition, it’s populated by the things that most compel you to click.”

What is the spiral of silence? Spiral of silence is posited that and an individual’s willingness to express his or her opinion was a function of how he or she perceived public opinion (Noelle-Neumann, 1974). This theory based on five major hypotheses: threat of isolation; fear of Isolation; quasi-statistical Sense; Willingness to Speak Out and tendency to Remain Silent; Spiral of Silence (Noelle-Neumann, 1991).

As we know, the spiral of silence is produced by our quasi-statistical and our fear of isolation. It is based on our perception of public opinion....