For example, Tiktok, Instagram, etc. all have an “algorithm”. But what is that? Who creates it?
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In general, an algorithm is a repeatable series of steps that can reliably bring you to a solution. Borrowing when subtracting in mathematics is an algorithm that most of us learn early in our lives, for example.
When people refer to “the algorithm” these days, they are commonly referring to the processes happening behind the scenes of companies that are collecting our data and looking for patterns in order to more effectively direct-market to us. Statistically, people who enjoyed content X will also enjoy content Y and are likely to be in the target demographic for product Z, so content Y and product Z begin to show up in your feed as promoted posts. All of the browsing data and even things like how long your phone lingered on a certain advertisement before you scrolled past are taken into the formula and it then spits out what would be the most effective things to promote to you. Many people believe that it can also involve using your microphone to listen to your conversations for specific words, but the sad truth is that while I suppose that’s possible, in most cases that isn’t necessary because we already give up so much information in so many other ways.
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