#social-media-algorithms

#social-media-algorithms

The teenage brain is built to help young people explore the questions, "Who am I?" and "Where do belong?" Answering these questions isn't a solitary endeavor. It's a profoundly social one. As young people try out different versions of themselves, they watch how others respond, gathering information about what feels authentic and what doesn't. Today, many of those experiments and reflections unfold online, where algorithms and influencers play an outsized role in shaping the feedback loop.

We live in a world where it's easier than ever to surround ourselves with people who think exactly like we do. Social media bubbles, corporate cultures and even leadership teams can all become echo chambers, places where the loudest reinforcement drowns out the most valuable challenge. The problem? Echo chambers create blind spots. They emphasize what we want to hear, not what we need to hear. They boost our confidence but rarely bring clarity.

A single-second pause over a social video can dismantle your algorithm. Even at my best, I can still hesitate over a poorly shot video demonstrating the "latest tech" that I simply "can't live without" and later learn I really could have lived without it. However, by then my feed is already filled with duplicate videos trying to push the same product.

The attention economy stokes conflict, turning social media platforms into merchants of hate. One part of this dynamic concerns upsetting stories that get to the top of the feed. But why does attention run to the latest sensational murder rather than some good-news story? Social media algorithms are designed to give the most visibility to disturbing stories. 1 However, the algorithms work as they do because of the way that the attention systems of our brains evolved.

The goal is to make buttons intuitive, easy to use, and - predictable. But is the disclosure, about participating in social media and expressing approval, full and revealing? I guess it all comes down to what you would define as a "positive experience". As I write this, two messed up, intertwined things are happening. Both can be directly linked to how the engagement dynamics of social media, driven by technology such as "like" buttons, has negatively impacted global politics.

Too many people use the word 'but' in relation to what happened overnight. "It's extraordinarily easy to condemn violent acts against somebody with whom you share their views. "It is much more important that we are consistent in terms of calling it out when it's against somebody whose work, whose views differ to us."

My social media algorithms knew I was pregnant before family, friends or my GP. Within 24-hours, they were transforming my feeds. On Instagram and TikTok, I would scroll through videos of women recording themselves as they took pregnancy tests, just as I had done. I liked, saved, and shared the content, feeding the machine, showing it that this is how it could hold my attention, compelling it to send me more.