ELI5: social network algorithm
// explanation
What is a social network algorithm?
A social network algorithm is like a smart friend who knows what you like and shows you posts you'll probably enjoy [1][5]. Instead of showing you everything in order, it picks the best stuff based on what you've looked at before.
Why do social media companies use them?
Social media platforms use algorithms to give you content that will make you happy and keep you interested [1]. The algorithm learns from your behavior—what you click on, what you like, and what you comment about—to guess what you want to see next [5].
How does it pick what to show you?
The algorithm is like a detective that runs tests on your data to figure out what interests you the most [5]. It sorts through all the posts and people to find matches that it thinks you'll be interested in [2].
Does everyone see the same thing?
No! Because the algorithm learns what each person likes individually, your feed looks different from your friend's feed, even if you follow the same accounts [1][5].
// sources
Apr 24, 2021 ... The function of an algorithm is to deliver relevant content to users. The reason why social media platforms use algorithms is to more ...
Jun 4, 2024 ... I'd assume this is just a series of SQL relationships, and the algorithm's job is solely to sort users and posts into their respective clusters.
Feb 10, 2023 ... We propose an epidemiology-inspired and community-based, time-evolving online social network generation algorithm (EpiCNet), to generate a time-evolving ...
Sep 12, 2014 ... Design an algorithm to determine the earliest time at which all members are connected (ie, every member is a friend of a friend of a friend...of a friend).
Oct 9, 2023 ... The basic idea is they take your data, they run a statistical test to see what you would be most interested in, and then they use that to decide ...
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