# Reading Responses (Set 2)

### By Emma Richards

### March 16 - Ads and Social Graph Background

When you go online to a website like Shein or Zara to look for a new sweater, it seems like a harmless task. However, by clicking on the small “Accept Cookies” tab, you’re giving companies tracking possibilities that go way beyond harmlessly looking at sweaters. A video published by [Vox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFyaW50GFOs) highlights how online shopping can lead to countless tracking possibilities via cookies.

The inventor of cookies, Lou Montulli, created cookies to make our online lives easier. Cookies save small pieces of information about you and your preferences, so the website knows it’s you when you revisit (1:55). As online markets have grown, however, online ads use cookies in a different way. Now, third-party cookies are being used to seemingly track your preferences and recent browsing history and advertisements begin to appear on third-party sites.

If I close the tab for the sweater I was looking at, and open Facebook to look at my timeline, the sweater can be right there in my Facebook feed, in the form of an ad. Platforms and publishers like Facebook and Google are poised to gather as much online information about you as possible, to cater ads to your liking. The cookies embedded into your computer by the sweater company give companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google permission to look at your cookies and give you advertisements based on what you liked and interacted with.

This can make consumers feel as though they are being watched, and no one particularly enjoys that feeling. So how is this problem solved? While there is software to block cookies and third-party cookies, companies like Facebook are making it harder for ad blockers to block third-party cookies. Facebook Pixel is a third-party cookie disguised to look like a first party cookie; a loophole in the system.

Loopholes and disguises like this are a reason inventor Lou Montulli thinks third-party cookies are going to be around for the long run. He predicts that “if we want to make substantial change to the methods in which tracking and advertising is done, it’s going to have to be done at a legislative level because otherwise we’re just fighting a technological tit-for-tat war that will never end” (6:28). If we want to stay clear of tracking and targeted ads, as consumers we must be extra cautious when it comes to what we click in the online world.

### March 23 - Finding Someone

College is the perfect place and time to potentially meet a lifelong partner. But with a global pandemic and the rise of *Tinder, Bumble*, and *OkCupid*. Dating apps are becoming increasingly popular among college students, but they have a bad reputation. For my demographic, dating apps are a way to find a quick hookup and probably get ghosted right after.

A *[Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/03/23/the-truth-about-online-dating-according-to-someone-who-has-been-studying-it-for-years/)* interview with sociologist Michael Rosenfeld explains how the success of dating apps contradicts the bad reputation it currently has. Rosenfeld has been conducting a long-running study of dating apps and their success at Stanford University. He found that people who meet online actually get married faster than those who meet offline. He credits this to two factors: Having a bigger selection pool, and the tendency to have extensive communication before the first date. These factors, Rosenfeld reveals, lead to an average of four years before marriage instead of the 10-year average for offline couples.

Even with this greater success rate, a huge reason people give dating apps a bad reputation is that it’s easy to lie on your profile to get more likes, swipes, and matches. A study by the dating site *[OkCupid](https://theblog.okcupid.com/the-big-lies-people-tell-in-online-dating-a9e3990d6ae2)* found the biggest lies people tell on dating apps, the top three lies being height, salary, and recency of profile photos. Men are the most likely to lie about their height, with most of them rounding up by two inches. Men are also likely to get more interaction if they have a higher salary. Those who indicated they make over $110K were actually making about 20% less. Lastly, the best-looking photos on dating sites are likely the least recent. We all like putting our best foot forward, but that can be deceiving if the photo is 5-10 years old.

Dating apps make it easier to meet people you’re attracted to and have boosted hookup culture among college students and age demographics beyond. They give you the choice to be selective and get to know someone before the first date, but it’s important to be wary of deception. But it’s likely that the horror stories of “dates gone wrong” have overshadowed the actual success of dating apps. So, if users want to meet partners, they should give dating apps a try.

### March 26 - Breakups

Couples break up every day, and in the digital age, these breakups are changing. Ilana Gershon, author of *The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting Over New Media* explains to readers how social media and Facebook influence the breakup process. Gershon highlights people’s use of “second-order information” and “away messages” as primary channels of communication on social media after a breakup.

Gershon explains that second-order information is “not what is actually said but rather the background knowledge of a situation and expectations of communication that allows one to interpret the words” (p. 123). This second-order information is delivered via an “away message.” For example, someone putting some lyrics from a breakup song on their Facebook or Instagram feeds can be a message to their ex about how they’re thriving or devastated post-breakup, depending on the meaning of the lyrics. On my Instagram page, I see away messages most commonly used by women to communicate to their ex that they’re “thriving” post-breakup. Friends of mine use away messages to show their social world they’re single and thriving, even if that isn’t truthfully the case.

Gershon also said something that stuck out to me, that “Disconnecting can take as much work as connecting” (p. 141). As someone who has experienced a couple of breakups myself, and helped friends through their breakup process, this quote is something I definitely agree with. Relationships can leave both parties in the habit of digital communication practices throughout the day. People in relationships are so used to texting their significant other from sunup to sundown, and breakups leave a gap in their communication habits. I always tell my friends post-breakup that the easiest way to move on in the beginning stages is to fill that gap of constant communication that they’re now missing.

Breakups can leave us missing a person to be with, but it now leaves us also missing a person to communicate with. The constant digital communication in relationships can make a breakup in the digital age feel even worse. The digital world makes it almost impossible to never see your ex again. But pain is temporary, swag is forever, and even a breakup can’t change that.

### April 6 - Algorithmic Discrimination

We think that we can trust what we’re seeing on Google or travel sites, but how do we know if our results are discriminatory? Price discrimination and price steering are the subjects of studies done by Northeastern professor [Christo Wilson.](https://cbw.sh/) His research [auditing e-commerce websites](https://personalization.ccs.neu.edu/Projects/PriceDiscrimination/) and [algorithms](https://personalization.ccs.neu.edu/) are designed to help recognize and face discrimination from the algorithms we use every day.

The most interesting results from Wilson’s research were tied to his auditing for hotel and rental car sites. He found that although not every user in the study had personalization of any kind, and those who did were more likely to have personalization on other websites. But these results were found from extensive research and study. As the average consumer, it’s very difficult to know when websites are giving you the best or worst price.

This problem is similar to the issue of racism within search engines. The problem arose when Swedish graphic designer [Johana Burai](https://www.buzzfeed.com/fionarutherford/heres-why-some-people-think-googles-results-are-racist) noticed that image search results for generic categories like “hands,” “men,” and “beauty” had predominantly white results. This inspired her to create the *[World White Web](http://www.worldwhiteweb.net/)* which seeks to combat the “whiteness” of Google’s image results. The racism also continues with results like “professional hairstyles” vs “unprofessional hairstyles” and “three white kids” vs “three black kids.”

Results for searches like these are blatantly racist, but who is at fault? Google’s image results are created by a collection of posts and links to articles from independent authors everywhere, so Johana explains “The people in society are creating Google, in a way.” These racist results are rooted in racist articles.

Like the price discrimination issue, this problem is hard to detect if you’re not looking for it and very difficult to solve. I think being aware of these issues is the first step to combating them. Due to the complexity of the world wide web, it’s very easy for discrimination to prevail. But if consumers are continually educated and aware of the issues we face on everyday sites, we can begin to find solutions.

### April 13 - Faked Sponsorships

The digital world is designed so that anyone with a dream of being famous, can be. Even if some of that fame is fake. An article by [Taylor Lorenz at *The Atlantic*](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/12/influencers-are-faking-brand-deals/578401/) highlights how some online influencers are faking brand deals and sponsorships. Why? Because sponsorships are clout in the world of influencers.

It’s also getting harder and harder to spot the fakes from the genuine, so pretty much anyone with a decent following can pass for a sponsored influencer. Influencer Palak Joshi explains in the article that followers assume everything is sponsored when it really isn’t. Influencers can do this by tagging companies in their posts, promoting brands in their captions, and even going on vacations and posting as if it’s a promotional trip. I found this post with a “sponsored” caption on my Instagram feed:


Because the sponsorships are free advertising, some influencers use their clout as currency. I have heard of influencers that will go to any cafe, restaurant, boutique, or store and try to exchange their clout and platform for free food, products, and services. Influencers will show owners their social media following and promise promotional posts as a form of payment. This is a gamble for business owners because this could potentially bring in new customers, or none at all. The value of influence is hard to measure, and a misjudgment can be a hard fall for small businesses.

On the other hand, the article mentioned a sunglasses shop owner who does not like promotions from influencers he has not personally sponsored. The anonymous owner explained that although free promotion from random influencers can sometimes give them beneficial free press, he also worries that some influencers could ultimately damage the brand’s reputation. With no real control over the influencers making fake sponsorships, aspects like these can be dangerous, especially to small businesses.

Anyone entering the world of influencing knows that sponsorships will climb you higher up the ladder to success, so many are faking it till they make it. This platform of fake sponsorships can have benefits and drawbacks for both the influencer and businesses. However, the next obstacle involves differentiating the real from the fake and making sure businesses don’t suffer a blow to their reputation from someone they don’t work with, who just wants a piece of the clout pie.