The Responsibilities of Social Networks and Search Engines

I’ve spent the last two weeks redoing some of my websites, and a lot of that time was spent thinking about how we as a society receive our information. While some of these tools such as Google and Facebook are innovative and help solve a lot of issues, these companies have the power to shape our worldviews rapidly, for better or worse. In many ways, they are taking the place of our traditional news cycles. There’s an inherent danger of manipulation if left-unchecked – and they have been manipulating the information we receive. Also, money talks to a lot of people and these companies have no shortage of cash.

This video was brought to my attention. While it’s nothing new to some of us (I’m involved with the field), I think it’s a topic most people don’t give much thought. I couldn’t have phrased it better and thought I’d throw it out there: