Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Does Twitter’s Algorithm Hate Your Friends?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

The short answer is "yes", according to Tyler Freeman, and he has the data to prove it. "I felt like I wasn't ever seeing tweets from people I actually follow, but rather randos that The Algorithm thought would keep me hooked," he writes. "I am following over 2,000 people, so to only see tweets from 10 percent of them is disconcerting; 90 percent of the people I intentionally follow, and want to hear from, are being ignored/hidden from me." Now in my case, it's a bit difference. I have two similar-sized accounts (@Downes and @OLDaily) following 1 and 0 people respectively. When I'm logged in to the first, which has a blue check mark, I don't get any algorithmic recommendations. But the other one, which has no check mark, is flooded with useless content I don't want. This sort of thing is what led me to abandon Facebook (has it been five years now?) because the last thing I need is to have my personal stream of information polluted, and as an information provider, the last trhing I want is for someone to follow me and then receive nothing (which, I might add, is what also happens on LinkedIn). Via Doug Belshaw.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 30, 2024 6:27 p.m.

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