Screen Time: The Algorithm
The year 2016 marked a major shift in social media. To be fair, the year 2016 marked a major shift in A LOT of things, but today we’re talking about social media. See in 2016, both Instagram and Twitter announced they would be moving away from chronological feeds. Both outlets announced they were following in the steps of Facebook and switching to an algorithmic feed. This meant users scrolling the apps would no longer see things in the order in which they were posted, but instead in the order Instagram and Twitter served up to them based on their usage.
Algorithmic feeds weren’t a new concept in 2016. Facebook actually made this change when they introduced their “News Feed” back in 2011. YouTube followed not long after in 2012. Believe it or not, MySpace actually dropped their chronological feed all the way back in 2009 in an attempt to boost their user base.
Here we are, 15 full years after the introduction of algorithmic feeds. You have, no doubt, encountered advice in your travels about what “The Algorithm” likes. If you’re on TikTok, (which I am right now) you’ve probably heard the phrase “bottom up engagement.” Perhaps if you’re a LinkedIn enjoyer, you’ve been told to comment on your own posts and request people DM you for the sake of “dark social.” Heaven forbid you’re a YouTuber trying to ride the waves of “The Algorithm” in a post ad-pocalypse world. No matter your platform of choice, there is always the question: “What does The Algorithm want?”
If you read yesterday’s blog, you already know the answer. For those uninitiated, the answer is screen time.
Across all social media, in every single app, the algorithm exists for one reason, to keep users’ attention. See chronological feeds have an explicit problem, they end. A user viewing posts chronologically will eventually catch up to where they left off on their last scroll. But, if that user sees posts based on their interest, and is introduced to content from accounts they don’t follow, they can scroll forever.
So what does the algorithm want? It wants users to stay on the app. Forget everything else, every rumor you’ve ever heard and any suspicion you’ve ever had. Algorithm want screen time. Period.
Now what do you do with that knowledge? You’re asking the right questions. Next week, we’re going to discuss how this knowledge can be applied to every post you make on social media. But before we do that, we’re going to identify how you can use your screen time to take control of the algorithm for yourself.
See you then
-MC
This article is the second in a series of blog posts about Screen Time. If you missed the first blog of this series, you can read it here. 