Algorithms are manipulating us unconsciously
– Wanchen Xue
– 6 Dec 2022
To the ordinary social media user, algorithms that filter out irrelevant postings in favor of more “relevant” ones may appear helpful and benign. With the use of user preferences, social media platforms determine which posts should appear at the top of a user’s feed initially. Most social media feeds used to show content in reverse chronological order until they started using algorithms to choose what to show users. In a nutshell, the most recent updates from accounts a user was following were prioritized. Twitter still lets you choose to see your feed in reverse chronological order if you like. Content recommendations on social media are often determined by algorithms that analyze your activity. For this reason, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter may prioritize content from your closest friends and family members. You’ve probably seen YouTube suggestions before, right? Again, this is tailored to you by looking at the shows you’ve seen before and the shows that people like yourself like to watch. Recommendations on each specific network also take into account factors like categories, #tags, and keywords.
Well, the influence algorithms have on audience size is a major factor in the debate around them. Even if Facebook’s algorithms are optimized, there are many cases in which they seem to “hide” material at random. On the flip side, there’s a well-documented phenomenon on YouTube that suddenly gain millions of views after being recommended to a seemingly random audience. However, algorithms are always being refined in an effort to smooth out any rough spots and deliver the best possible service to end users. As a consequence, marketers need to be flexible and responsive at all times. This calls for constant marketing of new information and adaptations to promotional approaches.
Also, some people think that algorithms on social media are there just to make businesses shell out more money for advertising. Brands will resort to advertising if they are unable to reach their target audience naturally, so the thinking goes. That implies greater advertising revenue for social media platforms. At the same time, some information (especially information generated by minority groups) that really needs to be seen may not be seen by more people and disseminated effectively due to lack of funding. This viewpoint may sound cynical or even paranoid, but social media marketers are well aware of the potential consequences of shifts in the relative prominence of sponsored and organic content on social network algorithms. No matter how or why social media algorithms came to be, they are here to stay. It’s important for the marketing department of different companies to understand what factors lead their content to be deemed of poor quality or irrelevant to their audience demographic by algorithms. For traditional users of social media networks, although it is fair to say that these algorithms have helped push feeds we’d most likely be interested into the front of the fold in most of the time, they are also leading to a further squeeze on our right to freely choose what we want to see on social platforms. Unconsciously, we are being manipulated.