Does Internet Tracking Limit the Growth of Ideas?

By now, we are all aware of tracking by internet and social media companies, and its role in advertising.  However, I was shocked to find out, from Eli Pariser’s presentation, that these internet companies use them to tailor everything that we do based on the information they have obtained from our internet history.  If there is some connection to the internet, it is tracked- even an individual’s Amazon’s Kindle activities.  Even as Sue Halpern pointed out, our emails are not private, like we all assume to be.  So outside of privacy concerns, I didn’t know there were other possible complications to this tracking.  But the points made by Eli Palmer make sense.  If this tracking is being taken to the extreme of limiting what we have access to, then where will it stop?  I am a big believer that in order to grow in our ideas, we must be exposed to opposing ideas.  Two results can happen that way:
1. your point of view will grow and you will feel stronger about it, or 
2. You may change your point of view.  But either way, you begin to understand the other side of the issue.

      However, Noma Bar argues that this tracking and focused search results is actually a positive.  In this article, it is argued that while weak links have a large effect on an individual’s life- more job offers have been found by weak links- the frequency of connections are not enough to be able to receive information.  On the other hand, frequency of connections are drastically higher with friends, who are more likely to share the same ideals.  Bar argues that knowledge grows more from these non-weak connections.  When it comes to issues such as foreign policy, however, weak links give new possible points of views that an individual may have not considered earlier.

Overall, I agree more with Pariser.  Having our information and activities tracked not only removes the privacy we are entitled to, but also leads to larger group think.  Without the challenges to our opinions that opposing ideas create, we get stuck in this bubble that grows with ideas like ours, leading to group think.  I do believe that this phenomenon does limit the growth of ideas, because it forces us to remain with our same thinking, even if it is wrong, without giving us the ability to consider otherwise.

Obama's Campaign

     It has been continuously discussed, and it is a known fact, that the 2008 Obama Campaign utilized social media and the internet more effectively than the other candidates during this campaign and election.  However, the extent that this was effective was unknown to me until this moment.

     The Obama Campaign’s use of MyBO seemed to be effective because of the ability to make tasks simple for volunteers and supporters.  From analyzing which are the most active registrants, to sending specifically tailored tasks to volunteers, this campaign was able to do focused movements that improved his chances of getting elected drastically.  It is the ‘focused’ aspect that is most important, in my opinion.  The article contrasted the proper utilization of social media between the Obama Campaign and all the other campaigns, and the difference was outstanding.  While the Obama Campaign made social media outreach part of its center strategy- while I’m not sure how comprising of campaign resources social media strategies were, they were definitely very important and in the center of the campaign- from the very beginning, campaign’s like those of Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain did not utilize social media as effectively and efficiently as possible.  According to the article, the most comparable social media utilization was John McCain’s, through his creation of McCainSpace.  However, his page was unresponsive, limiting in the access to the population it had and it didn’t have the interactivity the MyBO had.  I think, partially, this was also because of the demographic Obama was targeting, as opposed to the older demographics all the campaigns were targeting.  Because historically the younger populations don’t go out and vote at the levels older populations do, it makes sense that the other candidates didn’t spend as many resources as the Obama Campaign.

     Aside from MyBO, Obama’s use of MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter also surpassed the hits and responses from all the other campaigns.  In a matter of a little over a year, Obama’s Facebook supporters increased from approximately 100,000 to approximately 1.25 million supporters, compared to barely 250,000 Facebook supporters for John McCain by July 30, 2008.  Aside from the efficient use of social media, and the campaign’s ability to quickly and succinctly send information out, a lot of this also had to do with the appeal Obama had during the 2008 campaign.  Had his appeal not been as strong- had his message been different or his delivery and persona been different- I don’t think the most effective and thought out social media strategies would have had the impact the actually had.  

     Considering all of this, it will be interesting to continue seeing how Obama’s focus of social media and the internet affects this election cycle- especially since Obama is not running.  The effect he had on campaigning will have a strong lasting impact on campaigns in the long run.

"Growing Up Online"

            

           The internet has become a big part of today's generation. Kids growing up in today's generation are growing up with technology surrounding them. The internet is an excellent tool where people can access to do research, business, play or communicate with others around the world,  but in the same time it could be very dangerous.

                When the internet first started and social media came out, it became an integral part of kid's lives. If you didn't have a MySpace page or an AOL screen name you weren't in the loop. Due to the easy access to the internet and social networking, and due to the increasing importance in a young's person's life, negative consequences began to rise, such as cyber bullying.  People were not only being bullied at school, but also at home. Just because you left school grounds and everyone went home didn't mean that the bullying stopped. People who bully online think that because they can't see the person it makes it okay, since people feel safe in their home, bullies think that because they are home and away from the person they are bullying, they aren't hurting them.  Not bullying directly, and not seeing the victim, gives even more power, as seen in the PBS Presentation. Cyber bullying is very psychological. It impacts a child's self esteem and how they view themselves.  Due to cyber bullying many kids have committed suicide, like the case of Ryan Halligan.  A lot of parents don't know how to use the computers, especially as efficiently as this generation, who has grown up with technology, and because of this they don't know what is going on in their kid's life.  Even if parents know how to use computers, kids know how to hide what they are doing.

            Also, we can see with the internet kids are spending more time alone.  With everything that the internet offers, young people are spending more time with the computer or cell phone, and there is an instant gratification aspect to all that they do.  They spend all their time navigating the internet and social media, communicating with others, and being able to express themselves freely without judgment from the adults and peers in their lives.  As is the case of Jessica, she did not fit in her regular day-to-day life, and turned to the internet and social media to be able to express herself and find confidence.  The danger with this, and in the example of Jessica, is that individuals don't know who is on the other side of the screen, and that they grow up too fast.  She even mentioned that at 14, she appeared as an 18 year old.  This shows that the internet has a huge impact on self-esteem and personal growth.  In order to feel included and gain more self esteem, she turned to the internet, and that led her to expose herself in a way that will always be there.  Even though she tried to continuously hide her identity, through a series of connections and events, those close to her eventually found out the truth.  This just proves two additional issues with the internet and social media connections: 1. whatever is posted will always be there, and 2. social media connections are so intricate, that information spreads rapidly, and there is no way to hide what is posted- it is basically impossible to prevent anyone from seeing what is posted online.  In the case study of Jessica, it was proven when her principal and parents found out about her online life, even though she worked hard to make sure it remained a secret. 

            I can't deny that the internet is a positive tool when utilized correctly, but as a parent, it is our responsibility to make sure that it is kept that way.  While the internet has multiple positives, the danger that lurk within it are also extreme.  Since this is the first generation truly growing up in a fully technological world, we don't really know how to deal with many of these issues that appear, since there is such a high learning curve.  But it is something that we need to continue learning and facing, in order to protect our children.