The TikTok ‘For You’ feed is great.
Well, actually it used to be.
Now it’s become a bit too much like an American version of something actually good. It a bit dumbed down and seems to be analyzing what TikToks I like to watch a little too literally. Like one of those renovation shows where you’ve mentioned you like animals once in passing and they turn your bedroom into a zoo.
This is the problem with algorithms.
Actually…
It’s one of the problems with algorithms.
They’re almost smart.
They’re pretty good at guessing at what content will elicit a response from you and either get you to engage with the content on your screen, and/or stick around longer.
That’s good for business for social media platforms. The longer you’re on their platform, the more ads you see and thus the more ads the social media platform can sell.
I don’t have any problems with that really.
Everybody needs money.
As you probably know, getting us angry is a great way to encourage engagement. The algorithm knows that too. It may not even be aware of the difference between angry and happy (honestly, I think with semantic indexing it probably does) but it sure as heck knows most of us react to things that make us irate.
Once you know this, it gets easier to not take the bait.
”This makes me so angry!… wait, Who wants me to be angry? Are they just using my anger to get more eyeballs on this content? Is my blood pressure being increased purely to sell more ads?”
I can’t concretely say that’s true for social media platforms but I can tell you as a content creator it’s absolutely true.
I have a video called ‘Explaining Canada Day to Americans’. It has about 65 million views. Each year it increases by about 3 million views because the comments get filled with angry Americans and Canadians. The equivalent of two drunks sloppily trying to punch each other outside of the bar. They both look like idiots.
I hate it… but also thanks for the money.
So I understand why social media platforms use algorithms to get you clicking and rage typing. They need lots of money. I only need money to support me and my family and keep my beer fridge full.
Again, once you know this, it’s easier to not take the bait.
So, why is it still so damn effective?
People are stupid. All of us.
Algorithms don’t care what time or day it is.
A perfect digital storm.
We use time to help navigate how we should react to things.
In its most extreme sense, to note the difference between when someone is dying and someone is dead.
The former may require immediate action, the latter is a bit less urgent.
Algorithms cut that anchor to time so we have one less very important factor when determining if we need to, or even want to, react to something.
In the absence of chronology chaos reigns.
Suddenly we’re panicked about weather warnings for yesterday.
We’re freaking out over events that happened days, weeks, or months ago.
We’re getting baited by the algorithm to react to things that have possibly already resolved.
We can’t operate like that.
Social Media moves fast.
If there’s an earthquake in California, I know about it on Twitter here in Ontario, Canada within 60 seconds.
Social Media moves very fast.
Which can be amazing and so beneficial.
Removing the anchor of time only keeps us in a perpetual state of panic.
Algorithms are like someone who comes into a crowded room, yells “Fire!”, causes panic, and then you find out they meant last year.
Algorithms, in their current form, are really bad for us.
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Sometimes it’s fun to play with the algorithm . I will start to watch some random piece of info from Facebook and find myself inundated with more and more of the same:- which I why I am currently quite knowledgeable about camping in log huts in the winter!