We're having another, bigger wave of folk moving from Twitter to platforms like Bluesky and Mastodon right now. There's a lot of talk about algorithms and feeds. Let's break it down, find out what algorithms are, and what to know about the information you discover in your favourite social media apps.
Algorithms are everywhere, and that's (mostly) ok!
📣 OK first of all, every social media feed uses an algorithm, even if it's just a list of posts from people you follow in chronological order – that is the algorithm!
The problematic part was that apps started presenting feeds assembled using different algorithms that we couldn't see or understand. Using a different algorithm isn't necessarily a problem in itself – sometimes it's good to see something beyond that timeline from people you already know about. The problem was that the algorithm was mysterious and hidden, and sometimes you couldn't opt out of it.
What is an algorithm?
An algorithm is a series of instructions we give a computer to create the functionality you use in a software program, like presenting a list of posts in a social media app. An algorithm is like a recipe for a meal, or a manual for assembling a piece of furniture.
Algorithms can get really complex, and use structures that determine the control flow of an app, like conditionals. A conditional tells the computer to do something if some condition is in place. Like not showing a post to someone if they've blocked the person posting it. Algorithms use lots more structures that change the behaviour of the apps you use, and they can be hard to predict!
Algorithms also use data, like the user details indicating they'd blocked that other person. The data on a social media app is dynamic, meaning it's constantly changing, because people are joining, posting, interacting, and all sorts of events are happening in the world. The combination of these control structures and large amounts of data makes the experience of social media often radically different between users.
Algorithmic feeds
Over time, many social media feeds shifted from that list of posts from folk you follow to an algorithmic feed that was created by some mechanism you couldn't see or control. Sometimes they would push content that was popular with others even though you didn't follow the people posting. Sometimes they would just push content the owner of the platform wanted to promote. Why?
Most social media apps are free to use, but they cost money to provide. Software services are funded a few different ways, but typically the funders want a return on their investment – in the case of VC funding, which was prevalent in the tech industry for many years, they want an extreme return. This is why platforms use ads, promoted posts, and sometimes paid accounts giving you additional features.
Follow the money, always
Social media providers have struggled to come up with business models that don't destroy the experience they give users. If you're generating revenue from ads or promoted posts, you might charge by impressions – the number of times a post appears in someone's feed. Even if you aren't making money this way, it's common for software companies to report on metrics around engagement as a predictor of future success. Engagement means users spending time in the app and interacting with it.
Software platforms are therefore incentivised to increase engagement, in order to generate revenue, or to keep the funding coming in so that they can continue operating. The consequence is programming your algorithm to push content that gives those engagement numbers a bump. Unfortunately the posts that have this effect aren't always good for community health, like hate content.
Building these levers into your algorithm gives you the mechanism to push whatever content you like at people. This is part of how social media platforms have contributed to the spread of misinformation that aligned with the political interests of their owners.
Emerging platforms and user choice
There is good news. A raft of new social media platforms are attempting to decentralise and democratise your experience, by giving you choices over the algorithms that assemble your feeds, and making those feeds more transparent.
For example, in Bluesky you can choose feeds that only show you posts from mutuals, or posts that are popular with people you follow – you can also create your own custom feeds. Mastodon is open source, which means people can see and contribute to the code, and even host their own version of it. How these platforms are going to be funded in a sustainable way remains to be seen. And idk what to tell you about Threads lol I'll leave it at that.
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