Data Bubble

Sahara using iPhone

Recently, I watched the documentary The Great Hack. It's been a long time coming, it came out a few months ago, and I had every intention to watch it the second it came out but with juggling job searching, studying for an additional certification on top of my Computer Science Degree to make myself more marketable for junior positions, and also training 6 times a week as a track athlete, it was put on the back burner.

The Great Hack is a wild ride about data, and as someone who is a software engineer I found it extremely interesting. Technology has advanced a lot in the past few years, and as technology advances the more our bubble of reality is shaped by the algorithms of mainstream applications -  like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter - we use. 

After watching the documentary - which honestly, I may even need to watch a second time - I began to wonder how many alternative realities we all live in that's created by what we engage with.

Let's start with Twitter.

When you click on the little magnifying glass that indicates searching, you have 4 tabs that you can swipe between: For You, Trending, News, Sports, Fun. Now, the For You tab is the selected one that you see when you initially click on the magnifying glass. Depending on what you engage with, keywords you tweet about, and who you follow, this shows what the algorithm thinks you would like/be interested in. 

Now, I have a question for you: How often do you select Trending, News, Sports, Fun tabs that are just a swipe away?

Personally, not much. I just scroll through the reality that the algorithm has sorted for me based on my likes, what I engage with, and who I follow. There is so much going on in the world, and with the For You section, it just ensures that regardless of what is actually happening in the world, you are only shown a piece of the world that you don't realize is a piece but rather think is the whole puzzle. Your perception of reality is shaped by an algorithm that essentially tries its best to become an extension of your subconscious.

Sahara sitting down with iPhone in one hand

Now let's shift our focus to Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook and one of its children (the second child being WhatsApp). Facebook is what The Great Hack focused on. Cambridge Analytica (CA) used Facebook to determine the in-between people in the 2016 Election. The ones who weren't for Trump or Hillary but in between - undecided. Those are who CA targeted - the ones whose minds they can change.

So how did they actually target these people specifically? 


The researcher, Aleksandr Kogan, sold 270,000 personality tests to CA. But it actually doesn't stop there. His personality test not only links to the person who took it but it also looks into the test-taker's friends and collects their data too - so in total 50m people's data.

But not all 50M people took the personality test so now they had a gap - they had one user's personality test data but for every one user's personality test data they had 200+ friends of theirs who did not take the test.

This is where Michal Kosinki came in - for every person who took the personality test, he analyzed all their friends likes and engagement and essentially reverse engineered the personality test based on that and created a profile for each friend. And that's how 50m data + personality was complete.

The Trump Campaign worked with CA - and the goal was simple: make the undecided voters decided on voting for President Trump.

Based on the data that the personality profiles had - which amounted to over 100m registered voters in the US - the advertisements that each person saw was tailored based on what the data showed they engaged with. Facebook was essentially home to multiple realities - each that made sure the specific undecided voter saw exactly the precise advertisement that would tilt the scale from undecided to decided.

There was a lot of talk in the news of Cambridge Analytica and how it basically destroyed the democratic process in both the US and the UK, Brexit, and in a way they did - they got into people's heads in a way that people didn't realize that the content they were consuming was placed in a way that it didn't look out of place on their Facebook feed rather, it was exactly where it was supposed to be.

Sahara focusing on her phone on social media

Did Cambridge Analytica direct people to vote for Trump so they had no freewill?

No, but they did put all the pieces to ensure that the puzzle that users saw was the one Cambridge Analytica wanted them to see.

Instagram - Facebook's child - is the last one we're going to delve into. Even if you don't use Facebook, Instagram is essentially an extension of it. So let's talk about the explore page. Similar to what Twitter does with the For You section, Instagram shows you what their algorithm - based on your likes and what you engage with - thinks you would like. 

Sometimes algorithms get it wrong - trust me when I say I sometimes question how on earth some things end up on either on Twitter Explore or Instagram Explore but the algorithm takes note: what you click on, what you don't and perfects itself until it is always correct. 

These algorithms - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter - shape our life the more time we spend on them. The more time we spend on them, the more it becomes more accurate. In terms of Twitter, your world view may just be the For You section - even though there is more to the world than the bubble that the algorithm has created for you.

Sahara smiling at camera with phone in hand
and yes to confirm: these are tea cups on my shirt

Where does that leave us? How do we jump out of this data bubble?

Well, our perception of reality is formed by what different algorithms are able to learn about us. As this is the 21st century, there is no one trick to escape the data bubble since everything that we do revolves around the online world. But what you can do is be selective of what you want the algorithm to know about you - i.e. what you choose to share. 

Also, as more of an add on, remember how I mentioned the personality test created was done by linking your Facebook profile up? Right. I think now is a great time to mention: When given the opportunity to link a social media you already have OR sign up by email address - sign up by email address. Personally, I do this because I don't know what data an app/website will be pulling from my social media, and I'd rather start with a clean slate rather than a data backpack of information sent to an app/website the second I choose 'Sign in With Facebook'.

Have you ever watched The Great Hack? If not, are you planning to watch it? How accurate is your Twitter/Instagram Explore section?



20 comments:

  1. Love this blog post darling!! I also watched The Great Hack and it really opened my eyes and shocked me. Really well written post 💜

    With love, Alisha Valerie x | www.alishavalerie.com

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    1. Thank you so much! So glad to hear you enjoyed reading. It really was such a great documentary, may even have to watch it a second time to fully wrap my head around it!

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  2. I've head some absolutely amazing things about this documentary that I might have to give it a watch! Thanks for sharing your thoughts x

    Kayleigh Zara 🌟 http://www.kayleighzaraa.com

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    1. It's such a great documentary! Really opens your eyes to data and algorithms of social media. Thanks so much for reading!

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  3. This sounds super interesting - I'll have to give it a watch! I always sign up to sites by email because of this exact reason - idk what is coming from my socials to these sites.

    *goes away to watch*

    Anne // www.basifpa-and-did.co.uk

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    1. Thank you!! So happy to hear you enjoyed reading, it really is such a great documentary about data and algorithms of social media. Yes exactly! That's the reason why I always sign up via email, and thankfully that's always an option :)

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  4. This sounds so interesting, I really need to make the time to watch it. I think I'm an anomaly here though, I never look on my Instagram explore page and always turn my Twitter to news and trending then scroll to for you last. I hate when apps think they know what I'm interested in based purely on the content I consume in one place. Like Instagram being just about food for example - there's a lot more to care about in the world than a pretty smoothie bowl. Really great read x

    Sophie
    www.glowsteady.co.uk

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    1. It really is such a great eye-opening documentary, can't recommend it enough! I didn't used to look at my Instagram Explore page ever, only recently I began to wonder what exactly was curated for me based on what I engage with. In terms of twitter, I wish I had your mindset from the start! I'm always stuck on the For You and then *maybe* venture out to trending etc.

      Yess 100%! The algorithm is interesting in that it tries to sort our explore pages with things we engage with not realizing that what we are putting out into the world of social media isn't our whole life - so in a way the algorithm will always be flawed depending on how much you share.

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  5. I haven't watched it yet but I've heard a lot of good things! Although I was a bit hesitant because I'm really NOT that clued up with technology and these sort of things so I'm not sure whether it'd go straight over my head haha! My explore pages are usually quite accurate - especially on Instagram! I love Formula 1 and often see a lot of F1 content! x

    Jenny
    http://www.jennyinneverland.com

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    1. I can't recommend it enough! It's a great documentary, I may have to watch it twice to fully wrap my head around it haha! It's really interesting to see how accurate/inaccurate our explore pages are - depending on what we engage with or what we post, the algorithm sorts us what it thinks we'll engage with!

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  6. Really interesting post & it’s not something I usually think about. I never use the other searches on twitter, I’m always only on the for you, but this has definitely inspired me to check out the others to get the whole puzzle as you said! Xx

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    1. Thank you!! I'm personally trying to get more in the habit of venturing to the other tabs on Twitter and not just the For You section - it's a work in progress to make sure we get the full puzzle!

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  7. Oooh this sounds like such an interesting programme, I'm definitely goingto give it a go! I have been away from social media a little bit lately, but I'm doing what makes me happy when it comes to social media!

    Love, Amie ❤
    The Curvaceous Vegan

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    1. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did - it's a great documentary! Yes! That's the most important thing - to be happy with how we use social media :)

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  8. My, I was intrigued by this! Recently, YouTube got into trouble for stealing children's date to influence what they click on next. But the truth is, that is being done to us adults all the time across any number of social platforms.

    I do not normally click on Trends but it is often scary to see how little privacy I have by seeing all the little recommended tweets and friends that pop up.

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    1. I actually didn't hear about that! Wow, I wonder how YouTube managed to speak it's way out of that; and that's so true with adults! We don't realize how much data a social media site has on us until suddenly everything from recommended tweets to for you section on Twitter seems to be strangely just what you were looking for.

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  9. I think most of us acknowledged that the online world is actually never safe, but sadly, we also have to agree that it's very useful. My Twitter & Instagram explore are currently not too bad - most of them matched what I wanted to see, but some are very random, I must say. I haven't watched The Great Hack yet, but it does look very interesting. And this is such a great post, Sahara! x Ain

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    1. I definitely think the online world is a bit of a Trojan Horse - on the exterior it's a great tool to connect everyone together but it's also a tool where your world is shaped by the algorithms of the sites that you frequent on. Same on my end as well! Twitter for you section is accurate while Instagram is sometimes WAY off.

      It's really such a great documentary - thanks so much for reading, glad to hear you enjoyed!!

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  10. I've heard about this documentary but didn't actually know what it was about in detail but it sounds like such an interesting and eye opening watch! I would say my twitter and instagram are pretty tailored to my interests but occasionally something random or offensive might come up and I always make sure to either block the account or click the 'not interested' button.

    It is definitely scary to think of the ways our data is being pulled from all directions so I try my best to sign up via email as well rather than use existing accounts. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and bringing more attention to the documentary and the issues surrounding it!

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    1. It really is such an a great documentary! It really opened my eyes to how much social media really filters what we see in the world. Whenever something random comes up / something that's really odd, I usually take that as my cue to close the app - though I should probably take your approach and block the account or click the not interested button!

      Yes! That's the really crazy part - how much our data is being pulled from different directions, 100% always sign up via email where possible.

      Thank you so much for reading!!

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