What is the algorithm and what it does in social media?
In: Technology
An “algorithm”, in general, is just a way of making decisions.
“The” algorithm – the one that a particular social media site (like Facebook or Twitter) uses – is actually a collection of multiple different algorithms, all working together to decide what to show you next.
These “algorithms” pay attention to all sorts of information about you, including what you buy, what you click on, what you talk about, and so on – and then work together to figure out what to show you next, that will cause the owners of the company that made the algorithm to make the most money.
Most of the time, this is done by keeping you as addictively engaged as possible, so the more obsessively you respond to a particular sort of thing, the more it will show that thing to you. (This is different from you LIKING a thing, or from that thing actually being true! If “the algorithm” notices that it can keep you clicking by showing you made-up stuff that makes you really angry, that’s what it’s gonna do!)
All this makes the company money by keeping you clicking, while the corners of your eyes are filled with various advertising. Even if you don’t buy anything, the hope is that if it’s got the attention of millions of you, eventually somebody’s gonna buy something. (And of course, since it knows all about you and other people like you, it’s going to show you ads that it thinks you’re more likely to buy stuff from – and if it’s wrong, then it changes until it gets it right. Note that, again, this is different from showing you stuff that you actually need – it’s just going to push stuff at you that gets you to spend money, regardless of whether it’s a good idea or not.)
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