A small change to an algorithm is at the heart of fake news, tribalism and extreme behavior on social media.
In October 2009 Facebook made a fateful change to its algorithm which has had profound and polarizing effects on society. It’s a lesson in unintended consequences — for, on the surface, this tweak to the platform was made to improve user experience. However, it was really a strategic shift towards hyper-monetization, and this drive to turn the free social network into a money-printing machine also ended up exacerbating the worst human tendencies.
What happened was a decision to change the news feed from showing chronological updates to a new order, based on the popularity of a post. Popularity was quantified by a new algorithm which favored engagements. The more engagements a post received, the more chances it had of rising to the top of a newsfeed.
“A reaction of any kind, according to the amoral logic of the algorithm, is good.”
An engagement — as defined by Facebook and all the major social networks — is any kind of interaction with a post. That could be a like, a share, a comment, or a view. It doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with the content. It doesn’t matter if you spit your coffee out in laughter or disgust. A reaction of any kind, according to the…
