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Duckduckgo on Filter Bubbles

posted by mrpg on Saturday December 15 2018, @10:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the echo-chambers-R-us dept.

Runaway1956 writes:

Measuring the "Filter Bubble": How Google is influencing what you click

Over the years, there has been considerable discussion of Google's "filter bubble" problem. Put simply, it's the manipulation of your search results based on your personal data. In practice this means links are moved up or down or added to your Google search results, necessitating the filtering of other search results altogether. These editorialized results are informed by the personal information Google has on you (like your search, browsing, and purchase history), and puts you in a bubble based on what Google's algorithms think you're most likely to click on.

The filter bubble is particularly pernicious when searching for political topics. That's because undecided and inquisitive voters turn to search engines to conduct basic research on candidates and issues in the critical time when they are forming their opinions on them. If they’re getting information that is swayed to one side because of their personal filter bubbles, then this can have a significant effect on political outcomes in aggregate.

This is a moderately long read, as web pages go. IMO, it's well worth the time.

Original Submission

The code that we wrote to analyze the data is open source and available on our GitHub repository.

https://github.com/duckduckgo/filter-bubble-study

duckduckgo-filter-bubble-study-2018_participants.xls contains the instructions we sent to each participant, as well as basic anonymized data for each participant.

https://duckduckgo.com/download/duckduckgo-filter-bubble-study-2018_participants.xls

duckduckgo-filter-bubble-study-2018_raw-search-results.xls contains a separate sheet for search results per query and per mode (private and non-private). The results are listed as they appeared on the screen for each participant, showing both organic domains and infoboxes such as Top Stories (news), Videos, etc.

https://duckduckgo.com/download/duckduckgo-filter-bubble-study-2018_raw-search-results.xls

 
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Booga1 on Saturday December 15 2018, @08:42PM (1 child)

    by Booga1 (6333) on Saturday December 15 2018, @08:42PM (#774920)

    I've done this using multiple computers, different browsers, never signing into a Google account in the browser, using TOR, and resetting TOR identities(new IP/no cookies/no Google account). The speed with which the list of videos narrows down to my previously viewed and "recommended" videos is startlingly fast. Sometimes as quickly as viewing just three seemingly unconnected videos.

    Google has spent gobs of time and money figuring these things out. Cookies/IP/logins are barely the start of what they monitor. Here's what else I think they're watching, which is by no means exhaustive:

    • Categories of videos you watch(VERY specific such as funny animal videos vs. funny people videos)
    • Order videos are watched
    • Time of day you are typically active
    • How frequently you click recommended videos
    • How frequently you watch previously viewed videos
    • The fact that you use a VPN/proxy/TOR
    • The search terms you use, and whether you allow the autocomplete to assist
    • How you browse the results(Do you click directly on the video's title, the thumbnail, the channel/username?)
    • How you scroll the page(mouse wheel, up/down, page up/page down)
    • How often you view the full description of the video
    • How often you view comments
    • How often you press the button to skip ads when it's available
    • How quickly you press the skip ad button when you do
    • How often/quickly you disable the autoplay option

    I am sure others here can think of more ways to measure how web page interactions flow. Google certainly has.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 16 2018, @05:15PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 16 2018, @05:15PM (#775122)

    yes, but you're not addressing my point which was *how* they are watching all these things. i didn't mean they weren't watching all those things you listed. i meant they are only using a few different things to do all of that. identifying those things is what is important b/c that's what helps you stay more anon.