For today’s blog post, let’s talk algorithms. Before we do that, let’s first define algorithms and what they may look like on social media. Algorithms are a set of rules used by social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok and they are utilized to prioritize content that users see on their personal feed. Algorithms essentially help determine how your feed looks like and help upkeep the platform’s operations.
As our guest speaker Nitin Goyal said during his interview, algorithms provide two things to a user. The first thing is personalized content of individuals and this includes content coming from personal profiles. The next thing is passive content viewing. Viewing content without putting much effort or thinking into it such as reels which as you may have noticed, makes you stay longer on the platform.
Photo Credit: WIRED
This is important to know in the age of technology because algorithms in a way help shape who we are and what we believe in. For example, when looking at my Instagram profile, I noticed that my search feed is full of content that has to do with nail art, baking, fashion and dogs. This makes sense to me as that’s the majority of the things I search for when I am on this platform. Whenever I log into my IG account after school or work and I finish scrolling through my main feed, I tend to search for specific content such as funny dog videos which are used for passive viewing. Since that is what I search for often and the platform has noticed this pattern, it keeps pushing dog-related content to my search feed making my job much easier and also providing accessible content that encourages me to stay on the app for a longer period of time. Keep in mind, this is just my profile as other people such as my partner, and my mom’s IG pages look much different from mine. That’s because our interests and what we search for are completely different and platforms pick up on that so they can form a pattern based on our activity so the content is readily available for us.
Photo Credit: UNUM
As we also learned in our week 8 reading, social media itself is an online community. The algorithm wants each user to build a network that fits their area of expertise and interest and it also wants you to post content that aligns with your interests. This is an interesting point about algorithms because, on my previous baking business page, I used to post high-quality content to my feed that was related only to baking. In return, I would get content on my search page about baking which also encouraged me to get more involved with the baking community online. Not only that, in return, my content also got pushed out to other baking accounts which helped my business in the long run as it helped build engagement online. This just shows how algorithms can be helpful, especially for businesses in helping them find like-minded people that also align with their interests and beliefs.
All these points just prove how intertwined we are with the online world. As I mentioned earlier, social media and algorithms do help shape who you are as a person without even knowing it. The key point I want to bring up here is that although algorithms can be useful for us, it’s also important to understand their influence. With the power of algorithms, we have to also just make sure to maintain control over our decisions and actions and not just let social media algorithms take over.
Written By: Brintha Manoharan
Date: November 14, 2023