The Tyranny of the Algorithm

How Social Media and Other Algorithms Foster Insularity

TLDR summary: The internet is ruled by algorithms -programs that determine which websites, posts or videos to show users. Algorithms foster insularity and make social media and the internet less social and interesting. See the last section for a few moderately useful tips on how to fight the algorithm.

Algorithms: From SEO to Social Media

Google was probably the first company that made the term “algorithm” widespread. The Google algorithm determines how they rank sites, which spawned the field of search engine optimization (SEO). To get a website ranked on the first page, you have to understand, test, or guess exactly what criteria Google uses to rank pages.

While SEO is mainly the concern of businesses and marketing agencies, social media algorithms affect everyone who is active online. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and other sites all have their own formulas that favors certain users, those with the most financial and cultural clout.

As a content creator or marketer, you may be frustrated at how difficult it is to get engagement these days. What I really want to focus on for now, though, is how algorithms limit our choices as viewers, readers, and followers. They pigeonhole us into little virtual…