What Are Filter Bubbles Really? A Review of the Conceptual and Empirical Work

Lien Michiels, Jens Leysen, Annelien Smets, Bart Goethals

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paperResearch

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The original filter bubble thesis states that the use of personalization algorithms results in a unique universe of information for each of us, with far-reaching individual and societal consequences. The ambiguity of the original thesis has prompted both a conceptual debate regarding its definition and has forced empirical researchers to consider their own interpretations. This has led to contrasting empirical results and minimal generalizability across studies. To reliably answer the question of whether filter bubbles exists, on what platforms, and what caused them, we need a systematically and empirically verifiable definition of the filter bubble that can be used to develop rigorous tests for the existence and strength of a filter bubble. In this paper, we propose an operationalized definition of the (technological) filter bubble and interpret previous empirical work in light of this new definition.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdjunct Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization
Place of PublicationNew York, NY, USA
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages274–279
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781450392327
ISBN (Print)9781450392327
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Jul 2022
Event30th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization - Barcelona, Spain
Duration: 4 Jul 20227 Jul 2022

Publication series

NameUMAP '22 Adjunct
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery

Conference

Conference30th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization
Abbreviated titleUMAP ’22
Country/TerritorySpain
CityBarcelona
Period4/07/227/07/22

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