# Reading Response (Set 2)

### March 16 - *Ads and social graph background*

Ever wonder how ads displayed on websites show the exact item or items that you were previously looking? This is due to cookies which are series of letters and numbers to remember the user. This may sound scary and even a little creepy as companies are able to track what we do on the Internet and target users for specific products or services. Having said that, cookies are not always a negative thing. As described in the Vox 2020 video about “How ads follow you around the internet.” the Internet used to be like Dory from Finding Nemo, as it suffered from short-term memory loss. With cookies, websites would not have the ability to remember what you added to your cart or your login to a social media page whenever you switch to another page. Cookies have allowed the Internet to grow and become what it is now creating more convenience for its users.

Cookies have also propelled for the growth of online advertising. As defined by Robe Stokes in 2014, online advertising uses the Internet to display various adverts on websites, emails, and social networks by following web user behavior. This has allowed for businesses to be grown online as advertisement convinces users to know what they want and why they should want it. In this way it is able to stimulate demand for the product or service, benefiting both the customer and the seller. I wonder if its ethical for websites to install cookies on users devices and if customers are being taking advantage of for not knowing that cookies are in place?

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### March 23 - *Finding someone & living alone*

Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, Grindr, are a few of the many dating apps that are available in today's world. Even though there are 270 million people that currently use these platforms some are skeptical that it is diminishing real-life interactions (Business of Dating Apps, 2021). Could this be true?

Some say that one tends to disguise themselves online which can potentially be dangerous. This is because you can pretend to be someone that you are not by exaggeration information such as adding a couple of inches to your height to making more money than you do. According to Christian Rudder from OkCupid, people make 20% less than they say they do, as it is "cooler" and more attractive to say that you make more than you do.

Furthermore, the number of people living alone globally has increased from about 153 million in 1996 to 277 million in 2011 (Eric Klinenberg, 2012). This is a result of economic developing and the social security provided by modern welfare, as people have more wealth from which to maintain themselves and their livelihoods. I wonder if the rise of people living alone could be related to the spike of online dating platforms. Are people becoming uninterested in the idea of having a partner? Are they becoming too selective about who they want to spend time with?

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### March 30 - *Shaped*

Should the comment section be deleted? This is a topic of conversation that many are wondering and have very opposing opinion on. On one hand, comments can be a self-esteem booster as users get reassured and given complements by others. This is true for when some post a picture on Instagram and receive comments saying how beautiful they look and how much they care for that person. On the other hand, comments can make users feel bad about one’s self-concept as getting a negative comment can tarnish how they feel about themselves. This became more apparent with Ask.fm, a popular platform for teenagers to ask each other questions that became a place for cyberbullying. As the questions could be asked anonymously, users felt protected to ask questions they would not normally do so in a face-to-face setting.

I remember when Ask.fm first started to become popular. I did not create a profile at first as I felt embarrassed of the type of questions that my friends and acquaintances would ask. Looking back, I am glad I never created a profile as the platform that was supposed to be used for lighthearted questions quickly turned to a place to tear apart each other. This became so apparent that they blocked the site when using the school’s wi-fi and they sent out an email to all parents warning them about the dangers of the site. I wonder how platforms can do a better job of monitoring hate comments. Is this an issue that they will ever be able to fix or is it better to just get rid of all comments?

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### April 6 - *Algorithmic Discrimination*

You are thinking of travelling to New York City but want to check the prices of hotels and travel airfare before making a decision, so you make a quick Google search to see what the prices might be. You enter a page such as Travelocity that conveniently shows you plane tickets, hotels and even the best restaurants you should go to based on the location that you want to stay and the prices you are willing to pay. Then your friend also does a quick Google search and finds different results. Why would this be?

Pages such as this one run on algorithms that personalize their searches based on previous information that they have obtained from you such as your geographic location. This means that search algorithms might price steer and price discriminate which results in inconsistencies in e-commerce sites such as Travelocity. Christo Wilson found that 11.7% of search results show differences due to personalization. Is this fair? Are consumers showed various results such as price differences simply because they can afford to?

Personalization has brought the question of why people are stuck in echo chambers and how they are providing companies with the ability to price surge and discriminate based on who is searching for a specific query. Is this something that we as users should demand to change? Or the benefits of getting recommended films and tv shows on Netflix worth the search discrimination?

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### April 9 - *Collapsed Context*

When posting anything online there is usually an unconscious check list that I go through. Is this picture pretty enough for my feed or is it more of a story? Is what I’m posting too personal? Should I only post it to close friends? Am I bombarding them with too much information about a subject? There are all things that go through my head before I post anything online. This phenomenon was studied by Alice E. Marwick in 2010 as she conducted a series of experiments on Twitter to see how different users with different audiences interact with their followers.

Twitter is different from other social media platforms as most users decide to publicly post their thoughts and comments on various subjects. This makes the audience of of Twitter users to an extent undefined. Even if users do not have a substantial amount of followers, they still follow the “micro-celebrity” strategy when choosing to share information with their audience. They do this by targeting tweets that they know that will maintain their audience interest and keep them entertained, and as a result they will gain recognition via replies, retweets, private messages and likes.

Even though I do not have a private profile I still follow many of the phenomena's that Boyd and Marwick describe. My most active social media platform is Instagram and I find myself questioning and thinking about my “audience” when deciding when and what to post to the different aspects of the platform. This is something that I had not previously reflected on, and now that I have, I find myself questioning why this is something that I do. Social platforms should reflect what users decide to post, not because their audience will be interested on it but because they are.