## Reading Responses Set 2 (5 out of 5)
### March 17 Tue - Finding someone & living alone
The online dating innovation wave was quite literally one of the most promising events in the 2010s, and it certainly changed how humans form romantic relationships. However, the changes that occurred from this event varied from a few positives, but mostly negatives. Christian Rudder discusses the lies that are being told on OKCupid, such as height, income, and listing pictures of themselves and saying that they are recent. The overall message is that dating profiles are highly exaggerated because users have to present the most attractive version of themselves so they don't fall behind in the dating market. Derek Thompson argues that online dating is not good or bad, but more importantly, its replacement of traditional ways to meet romantic partners was "inevitable". He elaborates through expressing his idea that dating apps did not cause loneliness or social change, but rather is an adaptive response to the trend of independence for dating to fit better in the modern world. Robyn Vinter interviewed individuals about their experiences on dating apps, concluding that people felt that they are overwhelming, superficial, and realized or even discovered that "people are more magic in real life" (Vinter). Joseph Chamie explores the idea that more people are living alone in America due to social and economic changes such as delayed marriage, urbanization, women joining the workforce, higher divorce rates, etc. He concludes that America and its people will have to "adapt to its far-reaching social, economic and political consequences" (Chamie).

As someone who wrote a case study discussing Tinder through a business and ethics lens, I have a few strong opinions on the topic. Thompson states that the shift in dating to become digital was inevitable due to the constant evolution of our society. However, I don't dating apps are being used in the way he envisioned, especially in the present age. Online dating's inherent flaw is simple: if a dating app allows for meaningful relationships to form, it deletes its user base of single individuals. Vinter discusses how people don't feel like they can tell if a connection can be formed on dating apps and the positive results of resorting back to traditional methods. However, I would even take things a step further because a sizeable amount of people are on dating apps to boost their self-esteem, not to meet up with people and "date" because the apps are designed to encourage behavior that brings out even the little narcissism an individual may have. This phenomenon results from presenting the most attractive you, constant validation through receiving likes/matches, and the endless amount of options, leading to disposable relationships. Is this really what modern dating was doomed to be, or are we destined for more?

### March 20 Fri - Ads & Social Graph Background
Have you ever searched for a specific product once and received suggestions to related items for days afterwards? That is not an unexpected phenomenon, but a carefully calculated one. Stokes (2013) discusses the objectives, methods, and types of online advertising. What makes online advertising unique is that "online activities are highly trackable and measurable, which makes it possible to target adverts and to track and gauge the efficacy of the advertising accurately" (298). Advertisers can track or control things like who clicks on their ads, who their ads target, etc. Online advertising is used to build brand awareness which is crucial because "Once customers know about it, they are more likely to trust the brand. The better known a brand is, the more business it can do. And the ultimate goal is to sell more of the product or service" (296). Advertisers purchase ads through a variety of models such as cost per thousand impressions, cost per click, or cost per acquisition. Advertising networks and social media send out these ads to the target demographic, while the ad servers themselves track interactions and overall effectiveness.

Vox (2020) goes more in depth on how targeting methods operate. The idea of cookies is discussed again, but in the context of advertising and business specifically. As we know, 3rd party cookies track browsing activity across a variety of domains, allowing advertisers to get an idea of who you are and what you may be looking for. More specifically, companies like Google and Facebook work with middlemen to use 3rd party cookies to monitor the entire internet to target ads to users. I'm fairly sure everyone's biggest question here is ethics and if it's an invasion of privacy that this is allowed to happen. Although I agree, I want to take things a step further and acknowledge just how much data is being collected on us. To my knowledge, data can include things like vulnerability, stress, and overall behavior, not just interests. I am curious on whether or not advertisers exploit these behaviors to increase conversion rates.

### Mar 24 Tue - Manipulated
The first and last time I bought something on the Tiktok shop was based off of manipulated and fake reviews. Reagle (2013) argues that public reviews hold immense weight in the eyes of the customer, stating "55% of adults said that they seek news and information about local restaurants, bars, and clubs, and 51% of those turn to the Internet for information". The importance of reviews gave companies an incentive to exploit them to cheat and manipulate. Fake reviews are created through an underground system of writers, bots, and even agencies who will manufacture trust as long as you pay up. Platforms do not clean up these fake reviews and often don't even have an incentive to try. When every rating generates engagement, why would platforms truly do everything in their power to stop fake ones? That was until the FTC proposed legal consequences of leaving fake reviews, stating "If the rules are approved, they’ll carry a big stick: a fine of up to $50,000 for each fake review, for each time a consumer sees it" (Fowler 2023). This is the government's first attempt only formally combatting fake, manipulative reviews.

Although the FTC rules are a step in the right direction, they will not change the behavior of big companies themselves such as Amazon, Yelp, or others that rely on reviews. This only changes if the companies themselves are the ones producing the fake reviews, which are often times not the case. As Reagle (2013) notes, this is due to section 230 of the Communication Decency Act which shields these companies from being held accountable for fake reviews that are posted on their platforms as long as they aren't the ones doing it. As long as engagement is generated and the platforms aren't punished, it doesn't matter if a review is fake, real, paid, or unpaid. So why would companies truthfully police themselves and stop a cycle which makes them money?

### Mar 27 Fri - Bemused
Why do professors at this school constantly make you rate your group members after a large group project? And based off of what? "Reese showed up to every meeting on time but he smells and I'm jealous of his ability to grow facial hair. 5/10". Does the 5/10 mean he was an average teammate or does it mean he sucked and I never want to work with him again? Reagle (2013) covers a wide range of topics but they all attempt to make sense of the funny, weird, and confusing comments left on the internet, including the subjective use of rating systems. This chapter is split up into 3 distinct sections or themes. The first section discusses how the date a comment is posted is rewarded over the quality of content of the comment itself. This ties into the concept of preferential attachment which is the principle that people must get an audience first over everything else because "equally compelling competitors who were late to the game might suffer because of their tardiness" (Reagle 2013). The second section covers how comments can have context, filters, and even nuance stripped away. The rating system is a prominent example of this structure because of its subjectivity. Another example explores context and how it travels slower than the comment itself. The third section ends the chapter on a more wholesome note; Comment sections allow people who would otherwise feel isolated to finally find their community due to the sheer volume of commentors on the internet.

Although this chapter felt like an umbrella of ideas that were loosely related to each other, the chapter makes some great points about comments that apply to a more general context. For instance, preferential attachment can be related to the concept of blitzscaling which is when firms are pressured to move first and spend as much money as possible to establish themselves in a new market. Blitzscaling works because of the existence of preferential attachment. However, for better or for worse, the scale that makes preferential attachment possible also allows for people of different communities to interact and find each other in a way which would not be possible otherwise. The speed and scale online comments possess are what made online content difficult to trust, but also allowed for people to find each other. There is currently no solution to cut all the bad and none of the good, and there probably will never be one.