The Algoithim Basics
This term describes the invisible process by which platforms decide which posts, videos, or articles appear in your feed.
What is algorithmic curation (or recommendation algorithm)?
These are the four main actors whose interests interact within a recommendation ecosystem: platforms, users, _______, and advertisers.
What are content creators?
Research shows that on social media platforms, this type of content consistently outperforms factually accurate reporting in terms of engagement metrics.
What is emotionally charged or misleading content?
This is the first step a media-literate user should take upon seeing a compelling or outrageous story in their social media feed.
What is verifying the source?
This is the primary metric most recommendation algorithms are designed to maximize, because it drives advertising revenue.
What is engagement (clicks, likes, watch time, shares)?
In the recommendation ecosystem, this actor funds the entire system and prefers high-engagement, brand-safe content environments.
Who are advertisers?
Algorithms have been shown to disproportionately suppress the content of creators from this broad group, a practice sometimes called shadowbanning.
Who are marginalized communities?
This practice — deliberately seeking out content from sources you disagree with — can help counteract the narrowing effect of a filter bubble.
What is intentional diversification (seeking out opposing viewpoints)?
On YouTube, this algorithmic feature is responsible for approximately 70% of total watch time by suggesting what to watch next.
What is the 'Up Next' or autoplay recommendation system?
These individuals adapt their creative choices — such as thumbnail design and video length — specifically to satisfy algorithmic ranking signals.
Who are content creators?
According to Pew Research, this is a concern that majorities of American social media users express about the political content their algorithms show them.
What is seeing too narrow or one-sided a range of political views?
Unlike algorithmic feeds, this older form of information curation involves human editors making visible decisions about what is newsworthy, and Pew Research shows most users prefer it for news.
What is human editorial curation (editorial journalism)?
This concept describes how an algorithm learns your preferences by observing your past behavior and continuously updates its model of you.
What is a feedback loop (or machine learning / collaborative filtering)?
In 2020, this Netflix documentary featuring former tech insiders warned that social media recommendation systems were designed to be addictive and corrosive to democracy.
What is 'The Social Dilemma'?
Researchers link algorithmically curated social comparison content on platforms like Instagram to measurable declines in this among teenage users.
What is mental health (self-esteem / body image)?
This type of intervention — such as requiring platforms to disclose how their algorithms work — is proposed as a structural solution rather than an individual behavior change.
What is algorithmic transparency regulation (government oversight / transparency laws)?
This is the name of the economic model that underlies recommendation platforms — treating human behavior as raw material to be predicted and sold.
What is surveillance capitalism?
This term refers to the idea that every click, pause, or skip you make on a platform contributes data that trains the algorithm to better predict (and influence) your future behavior.
What is behavioral data (or user data feedback training)?
This broader societal risk occurs when two citizens — consuming entirely different algorithm-curated information diets — find they can no longer agree on basic facts.
What is political polarization (epistemic crisis / breakdown of shared reality)?
Researchers use this metaphor to describe the algorithmic pathway that gradually leads users from mainstream content to increasingly extreme material.
What is a rabbit hole (or radicalization pathway)?