Shruti was ecstatic! She had the home all to herself on a Sunday evening. It was perfect ‘me time’, a rare luxury for one who is always jostling between work, home, kids’ studies, classes, and the list can go on! So, she planned to binge-watch, order food and turn into a couch potato!
Within 2 hours her dream of a perfectly relaxed evening was shattered!
She didn’t binge watch… she binge-browsed. Yes! She spent 2 hours trying to find an interesting show/movie worth watching and couldn’t find anything interesting enough. This is starkly different from her initial days of watching OTT. 4 years back, Netflix, Prime, and other OTT platforms would suggest just the right kind of content, just the one that she wanted to watch, but now it is so repetitive and boring – prompting similar shows/ movies that she has already seen. There is nothing new, nothing exciting.
Sounds Familiar?
Shruti has found herself trapped in the filter bubble effect of personalization (a term coined by Eli Pariser )! This is not limited to just video OTT platforms but found in online shopping, news portals, social media, etc. Digital services create personalization algorithms that predict which show, product, or type of the news user will be most interested in based on the user’s past behavior. The idea is to make the discovery of the desired fast, and easy and avoid the display of (presumably) uninterested things.
While the implications of the filter bubble in entertainment are longer browsing and switching between OTT apps, it has a deep concerning impact in the area of news and social media. News Apps and Social Media serve us content based on our previous consumption patterns, and our interaction with the content which includes time spent, like, share and comments. As a result, users are exposed to content similar to their opinions and beliefs making them, even more, stronger, and robbing the users of an opportunity to be exposed to new perspectives.
Our friend Shruti was an avid user of a popular national newspaper app. When her favourite movie star got married, she clicked on the news regarding that, and checked the actor’s wedding pictures decorations, etc. Now on the popular national newspaper app’s home page, Shruti sees more than 50% of news related to movie actors and important business and political news do not occupy premium visibility for her. Shruti is not the only one experiencing this cage of personalization, we all are subjected to it!
Unlike a physical newspaper, where the news that is consumed is based on readers’ choice, in the digital format personalization algorithms are covertly making the choices for the readers. Every time a user clicks on the content that the personalization algorithm has suggested, the user rewards the personalization algorithm for its prediction, leading to a vicious cycle of getting more and more of the same content.
The filter bubble has led to people believing more strongly in their opinions and beliefs. They demonstrate confirmation bias – dismissing everything that does not support their beliefs. Perspectives are shrinking and acceptance of new thoughts, and alternative viewpoints is difficult. Continuous reinforcement leads to a ‘know it all’ attitude strangles curiosity and has a bearing on an individual’s interactions with co-workers, friends, and peers.
While personalization offers its benefits and is considered an important tool in the arsenal of customer experience management, digital businesses should be cautious of its side effects – the filter bubble effect that erodes the gains of personalization quickly.
The way out of this predicament is to give the choice of personalization and the extent of personalization must be in the hands of the users. Most of the users are not even aware that their past choices are dictating what they are seeing on their screens. Irrespective of whether the users are using OTT services, news apps, social media etc, they should be able to control the extent of personalization they are subjected to.
By allowing users to choose the extent of personalization, digital platforms, and apps can continue to keep their audience engaged with new content or product offerings.
Authored by Dr Rashmi Jain – Associate Professor – Marketing & International Business, K J Somaiya Institute of Management.
