How Algorithmic Curation Shapes Your Online Experience

Algorithmic curation is a powerful force shaping our online experiences. It's what determines the posts we see on social media, the products we're recommended on e-commerce sites, and even the search results we get on Google.

This curation is often done in the background, invisible to us, but its effects are undeniable. As we scroll through our feeds, we're presented with a carefully curated selection of content that's been deemed relevant to us by algorithms.

These algorithms use complex formulas to analyze our behavior, preferences, and interests, and then serve us content that's likely to engage us. For instance, Facebook's algorithm takes into account the types of posts we've interacted with in the past, as well as the posts we've liked or commented on, to determine what we'll see in our News Feed.

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Algorithmic curation is the process of using automated algorithms to select, organize, and present information or content to users. These algorithms analyze various data points to determine the most relevant and engaging content for each individual.

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Algorithmic curation is used by social media platforms to curate the content in users' social media feeds. This is because social media platforms are flooded with immense amounts of new content every day.

Algorithmic curation is not just limited to social media, it's also used on platforms like GitHub, Reddit, and X/Twitter to curate what's "trending." This process is known as "organizing, selecting, and presenting subsets of a corpus of information for consumption."

The algorithms used for curation are proprietary, which means we don't know exactly how they work. This is because companies want to protect their intellectual property.

Algorithmic curation on social media is mostly done for specific users, which means what these algorithms recommend changes for each individual user. This presents a challenge in understanding how these systems affect users more broadly.

Algorithmic curation has a profound impact on our lives, and it's essential to understand why it matters. More than 70 percent of the videos people watch on YouTube happen through its recommendation algorithm, which means we're often not making viewing choices ourselves.

The decisions made by these algorithms affect our mood and worldview, with data scientists at Facebook showing how curation decisions can alter a person's happiness level. This is a significant concern, especially when it comes to radicalizing content that's pushed out to us.

If we don't trust the platform, we may be concerned that its choices aren't the ones we would have made, given the opportunity. This lack of control and understanding of how algorithms make decisions can be unsettling.

The power of algorithmic curation is so great that it's led to a countermovement that aims to allow users to determine what content they see. Platforms like Substack and Clubhouse are popular alternatives that give users more control over their content.

I've personally started to relish finding moments in my life where I actively determine which content I consume, and I've paid subscriptions on Substack to ensure I receive content that I've chosen rather than an algorithm.

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Algorithmic curation has a profound impact on our lives, and it's essential to understand its power. Over 70 percent of the videos we watch on YouTube are chosen by its recommendation algorithm, not by us.

This algorithm decides our information diet, based on our previous watching habits. It's like having a personal assistant, but one that can also lead us down rabbit holes of radicalizing content.

Altering a person's newsfeed can affect their mood and worldview, as data scientists at Facebook showed in 2012. They demonstrated how curation decisions can alter the happiness level of users.

We're often unaware of the power we're giving away when we delegate our decision-making authority to platforms. It's like giving someone power of attorney, trusting that they'll make decisions in our best interest.

More than 70 percent of YouTube videos are chosen by its algorithm, which can be both efficient and problematic. We may not trust the platform to make choices for us, especially when it comes to shaping our values and attitudes.

To push back against the power of algorithmic curation, we can demand greater transparency from platforms or find ways to opt out of the system.

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Algorithmic curation is a powerful force in shaping our online experiences, with platforms like Facebook and YouTube deciding what content we see and when.

More than 70 percent of the videos we watch on YouTube are recommended by its algorithm, rather than chosen by us.

The decisions made by these algorithms can have a significant impact on our mood and worldview, as seen in a study by Facebook data scientists in 2012, which showed how curation decisions could alter the happiness level of users.

We often trust these platforms to make decisions on our behalf, just as we would trust an attorney to make decisions in our interest, but this dynamic involves a significant amount of trust.

Platforms like Substack and Clubhouse are popular alternatives that allow users to determine what content they see, offering a more direct and controlled experience.

I've started to appreciate the value of user-curated content, paying for subscriptions on platforms like Substack to ensure I receive content I've chosen, rather than relying on algorithms to decide for me.

The lack of transparency in how these algorithms make decisions can be concerning, with many of us having little control over them and a limited understanding of how they work.

Algorithmic curation is all around us, shaping what we see and experience online. More than 70 percent of the videos people watch on YouTube happen through its recommendation algorithm, which decides our information diet based on our previous viewing habits.

This means that even though "You" is literally in YouTube's name, we're often not the ones making viewing choices on the platform. Algorithmic curation is also used by social media platforms, content streaming services, and e-commerce websites to keep users engaged and increase the time they spend on the platform.

The r/popular feed on Reddit is a great example of algorithmic curation in practice. The feed consolidates the most active posts from numerous subreddits and serves as the front page to the platform, making it a highly visited and impactful space.

Here are 5 key facts about algorithmic curation in practice:

More than 70 percent of the videos we watch on YouTube happen through its recommendation algorithm, which decides our information diet based on our previous watching habits.

We can demand a far greater deal of transparency from platforms or find ways to opt out of the system. Personally, I have begun to relish finding moments in my life that are driven by my own volition when I actively determine which content I consume.

To understand the factors that influence algorithmic ranking, researchers conducted an algorithmic audit of r/popular with two key objectives: understanding what factors influence algorithmic ranking on r/popular and quantifying how those decisions affect engagement on posts.

The researchers captured a snapshot of the r/popular feed every 2 minutes over an 11-month period, using over 1.5M consistently collected snapshots to examine the activity and movements of 10K posts from 694 distinct subreddits.

Multiple regression analyses were employed to examine the activity and movements of posts on r/popular.

Algorithmic curation is used by many websites to keep users engaged, including social media platforms, content streaming services, and e-commerce websites.

These algorithms often prioritize content that generates engagement, such as likes, shares, or comments, over content that may be more informative or balanced.

This can lead to the creation of filter bubbles, where users are exposed to a limited range of perspectives and information that reinforces their existing beliefs.

Algorithmic curation can amplify the spread of misinformation by prioritizing sensational or emotionally charged content over factual information.

Efforts to address these challenges, such as increased transparency and user control, are ongoing in the tech industry and policy discussions.

Here are the key points to remember:

Reddit's r/popular feed is a default feed available to all users, with and without an account, and it's a ranked list of posts from nearly all consenting communities on the platform.

The r/popular feed is a front page to the platform, consolidating the most active posts from numerous subreddits. It's highly visited and serves as a key entry point for many users.

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Its rankings are based on a calculated "hot" score, likely taking into account recency, comment rate, and upvote score. The feed also considers measures for post and discussion quality.

The r/popular feed is available to all users, making it impactful for a broad population, and its prominence allows for the collection of significant amounts of data. This data can provide key insights into how algorithmically curated feeds work and how algorithmic ranking decisions can impact user behaviors on platforms like Reddit.

This feed is a great example of how curation can be done effectively, with a clear and consistent ranking system that showcases the most active and engaging content.

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