This week, we took a closer look at the concept of Mass Customization and its impact on our online experiences – and how it will continue to change the way we use and interact with digital content into the future.

In short, we’re being followed. As Sting and The Police so aptly put it, “Every move you make. Every step you take. I’ll be watching you.” But in this case, every click you make is building type of online subconscious. And like your real subconscious,  you are not fully aware of your online subconscious but it heavily influences your actions and feelings. Instead of Jiminy Cricket sitting on your shoulder it’s Sirgay Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos. And their silent but powerful message is, “Buy! Buy! Buy!

While it may be unsettling to see that pair of Under Armor boxer briefs following me from site to site, device to device – there are true user benefits that result from web customization. Geolocation, identifying the real-time location of a user anywhere in the world, helps whittle down search results for local business or services, allows news services to pre-filter local and regional information, emergency services to push notifications such amber alerts or weather advisories to their communities. While this type of location tracking may feel a bit too “Big Brothery” for some, the true user benefits help to balance the scales and alleviate the feelings of invasion of privacy.

The question we have to ask is, “What am I missing?” Algorithms designed  to assess what we want and what is relevant to our lives, begin to actually start telling us what is relevant and deciding what we “really” want to see. But in the end, this narrows of our field of vision by shaping our online experience around habits and interests – rather than exposing us to the broad and diverse experiences that the web has to offer. Competing views and alternate perspectives are in effect underreported within our own online experiences, reinforcing our own beliefs and putting up roadblocks to social and political discourse.

What do you see as the benefits and downsides of mass customization online?