Filter Bubbles

A filter bubble is a website's way of catering to the user's preferences. It is not just in search results like Google but in Facebook too. You do not have to search anything but when you start liking photos, when you start showing preferences, Facebook will take full advantage of it. Thinking about it, filter bubbles like this is brilliant marketing because they aren't treating everyone the same. They are taking your individual preferences and applying them to make your internet experience better.
A potential personal drawback would be is that you do not get a healthy balance of things you like and dislike and things Facebook and Google does not think is important. For example: I was on my Facebook page and I like to keep up with people from my high school senior class. I like knowing who is pregnant, engaged, married, etc. The problem is that my senior class is full of people I did not necessarily get along. Just because I didn't get along with them, doesn't mean I want to find out a girl in my class is pregnant until she is showing in photos. The majority of my news feed is pictures, which explains it. I don't like that Facebook hides statuses from me that I do not choose to be hidden. 
In academia, filter bubbles can really damper research. I didn't realize that there were so many factors that went into a simple search. It sort of bothers me honestly. If I try to tell someone how I found a source "Oh, I was on Google and I searched these words then clicked on the third link" I do not want them to find a different link. It makes internet navigation more difficult and frustrating. What if Google acknowledge that the person is a history buff but that person is doing a paper on a current event? Filter bubbles can really hinder presearching and maybe even research itself.

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