Social media is driving me nuts

[FrankT]

Side swipe? Algorithm?

[cactina]

Side swipe? Algorithm?

It's going to be a long post and I only have my phone with me today. Will post my response tomorrow, when I'll have access to a laptop :-)

[FrankT]

By the way, does Tumblr count as social media?

[cactina]

Part 1 of 3
To answer the questions first:
Tumblr, as a blogging platform is definitely Social Media. if you think about it, even forums such as this one are social.

Algorithm: A set of rules that govern how a machine, a computer program, a social media platform functions or reacts to events. When you post a photo from your hiking trip on Facebook, and within a matter of hours it is showing you ads for tents and mountain boots, it is reacting to your post on the basis of an algorithm. this is just one algorithm that is part of thousands of lines of code written by hundreds of programmers over several years. The algorithms can self adjust, and can also be rewritten by programmers, based on how users are reacting back to the algorithm (and with each other), and also based on the wishes of the advertisers.

Side swipe: On 27th of December 2018, for a brief period of about 20 minutes, Instagram implemented the side swipe feature on its homepage. In the face of universal pushback and ridicule, Instagram has since rolled back the feature, but kept the door open for re-introducing it, saying they were only 'testing' the features now on a select group of users.

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Part 2 of 3

What is side swipe?
Currently when you log into Instagram, your home page shows posts from other accounts that you have added. Like most other online pages, you scroll down vertically to see these posts. However, with the side swipe, The vertical scroll goes away and you can only see one post at a time. You click on each post to see the next. This has the following disadvantages:

1. it is much faster and easier to scroll up and down than it is to click multiple times to browse through individual posts.

2. Since the feature is not yet rolled out there is no way to gather data, but clicking through is so foreign an interaction to users that they will most probably be fatigued and stop browsing much earlier than the time they currently spend on the homepage. Why is this bad? Because Instagram will surely use an algorithm to push advertisements, sponsored posts, and posts from influencers so that these appear first. By the time the user has arrived at posts from ordinary people like you and I, they are fatigued from all the clicking and most probably log off. This means our posts get fewer views, leading to fewer likes, fewer comments, and fewer shares. All of these are further treated as ground for pushing your posts further and further back in the queue. So: step i) your posts are pushed back not because they were bad or uninteresting or broke community rules, but just to make way for advertisers, and step ii) your posts are pushed back even further because "let's admit it, if they were not at the top of the line they were probably not good content!"

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Part 3 of 3

Instagram vs Facebook

Personally, I think the biggest difference between Facebook and Instagram is this: Facebook started as a network for interaction between friends. It started catering to advertisers much later. So, it's native algorithm is still written for human networks. When I sit and observe how Facebook's non-advertising algorithm works, I find an ironic replication of human behavior- complete with human biases, ignorances, and weaknesses. I personally don't see anything evil in it. And, if you are tech savvy, and read through Facebook's instructions and the Help section, you can subvert about 95% of its features. Facebook gives you a way out.

Instagram, on the other hand, was designed as a platform for advertisers. Common users like you and I can use the platform, sure, but we must make do with the interfaces, lexicon, and algorithm designed for advertisers. It is built on the premise of 'profit', and not 'value'. And it has a surprisingly inflexible and punitive algorithm. There is hardly any way to opt out of its features.

Many apologies for this long post on a festive weekend. I have just been so troubled by social media and how it is manipulating sweet, unsuspecting folk. I hope all of you are doing as well as you can. Wishing all of you love and a Happy New Year.