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The Algorithm. The editor you never chose.
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The Digital WorldGL-00056
The Algorithm
The editor you never chose
The set of rules deciding what a feed shows and in what order.
GeekLibraryMechanism
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GL-00056Mechanism
Social media does not show you what is happening. It shows you what keeps you scrolling. The algorithm tracks what you click, how long you pause, and what you skip. Then it gives you more of what held your attention. The feed is a mirror of your past behaviour, not a window to the world.
- Two people searching the same topic on the same platform can get different results. The algorithm personalises everything.
- To test this: open a social media app on a friend's phone. The content will look different from yours.
SourcePariser, The Filter Bubble (2011)
Platform transparency reports
Platform transparency reports
Keep exploring
Because you read The Algorithm.
The Digital WorldGL-00063
The Attention Economy
You are the product
The business of holding attention and selling it to advertisers.
GeekLibraryIdea
The Digital WorldGL-00058
The Filter Bubble
The echo chamber you built without knowing
The narrowed view that comes from seeing only agreeable things.
GeekLibraryIdea
The Digital WorldGL-00069
Logical Fallacies
The argument that sounds right but is not
Arguments that follow a broken pattern while sounding convincing.
GeekLibraryMechanism