Why Social Media Algorithms Are Basic

Surprisingly, social media algorithms are basic.

With so many excit­ing new tech­no­lo­gies and social net­works being R&D‑driven tech giants, it’s easy to assume that social media algorithms are com­plex works of wonder.

Well, they aren’t.

Here we go:

Why Social Media Algorithms Are Basic

Earning many sub­scribers, fans, and fol­low­ers used to mat­ter a lot, but since the silent switch, it has mattered less. The old trust-based sys­tem has giv­en way to the single con­tent algorithm, which favours sensationalism.

But, wait!

Why must it be this way? With such pro­found advance­ments in digit­al tech­no­lo­gies (arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, machine learn­ing, big data ana­lys­is, etc.), should­n’t social media algorithms be more soph­ist­ic­ated?

In an era of prom­in­ent social media issues (fake news, dis­in­form­a­tion, elect­or­al tam­per­ing, etc.), should­n’t social net­works like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and many oth­ers be more inter­ested in favour­ing trust?

Instead, social media algorithms are basic. There are a few reas­ons as to why:

So, social media algorithms aren’t as soph­ist­ic­ated as they could be. They’re basic. For now, the single con­tent algorithm reigns supreme.

The single con­tent algorithm = when social net­works demote con­tent cre­at­or author­ity to pro­mote single con­tent per­form­ance to max­im­ise user engage­ment for ad revenue.

Learn more: Why Social Media Algorithms Are Basic

The Silent Switch

All social media algorithms are built dif­fer­ently and are con­stantly being developed. At the same time, social media users’ beha­viours are evolving.

Still, there was a way that social media algorithms used to behave—and there is a way that social media algorithms behave now.

This has been a fun­da­ment­al but silent switch.

How Social Media Algorithms Used To Behave

For more than a dec­ade, social media algorithms would deliv­er organ­ic reach accord­ing to a dis­tri­bu­tion that looked some­thing like this:

This dis­tri­bu­tion of organ­ic reach enabled organ­isa­tions to use social media des­pite not being “media companies.”

How Social Media Algorithms Behave Today

Today, after the silent shift, social media algorithms deliv­er organ­ic reach more like this:

The increased com­pet­i­tion and soph­ist­ic­a­tion among con­tent cre­at­ors par­tially explain this new type of dis­tri­bu­tion. However, going vir­al is still just as pos­sible for anyone.

How does this work?

The Single Content Algorithm

How can a social net­work pre­dict what users will like? 

Content from a trus­ted cre­at­or trus­ted by a large com­munity of fol­low­ers used to be the lead­ing indic­at­or of future per­form­ance. But today, social net­works have found a bet­ter way to pre­dict con­tent success.

The single con­tent algorithm = when social net­works demote con­tent cre­at­or author­ity to pro­mote single con­tent per­form­ance to max­im­ise user engage­ment for ad revenue.

The single con­tent algorithm presents newly pub­lished con­tent to a lim­ited test audi­ence. It’s not the biggest fans but rather a stat­ist­ic­al subset.

If the newly pub­lished con­tent tests suc­cess­fully, the social media algorithm pushes that con­tent to a slightly lar­ger stat­ist­ic­al sub­set. And so on.

This iter­at­ive pro­cess means that single pieces of con­tent worthy of going vir­al will go vir­al, a) even if it takes a longer time, and b) regard­less of the con­tent cre­at­or’s num­ber of followers.

Learn more: The Silent Switch

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Social Media Mechanics

• Social Media — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• How Social Media Algorithms Rule Our Lives
• The Silent Switch
• Why Subscriber Counts Matter Less
• Why Social Media Algorithms Are Basic
• Dark Social: The Online Interaction We Can’t See

Social Media Psychology

• Social Media Naturals
• The Narcissistic Principle
• The Selfie Generation
• Emotional Maturity and Social Media (to be published)
• Attention Spans in the Social Media Age

Social Media Management

• Social Media Must Be Managed (to be published)
• The Follower Contract
• A Community Manager’s Job Description
• No Brand Community for You
• Critical Mass: How Many Social Media Followers Do You Need?

Social Media Issues

• The List of Social Media Issues
• How Ghost Followers Destroy Your Social Accounts
• Social Media Myths in PR
• Facebook Zero: Your First Fix Was Free

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