How Social Media Algorithms work to keep you scrolling
Have you ever checked your Instagram for 5 minutes before you realize it’s over 2 hours in, and you’re still scrolling? 🤦I know you smiled because you can relate. So how do you find yourself scrolling through those TikToks for hours without realizing it? This phenomenon is not a result of just one single Factor. Social media addiction is a new-age problem whose effects and future physiological consequences haven’t fully been grasped or even studied.
Essentially there are over 100 social media sites with the top 15 reporting over half a billion users (too many I know). Some become very popular while others just fade away. So how does this thing work? For starters, all social media platforms apply some kind of algorithms that help curate content. In simple terms, an algorithm is a set of rules /instructions that describes how a certain task should be carried out. Most social media companies have kept their algorithm a secret (it’s Intellectual property anyway) because that’s what they use to capture users’ attention to stay longer on the app. The longer you stay the more content you consume the more advertisement they and the more money they make. So, it’s not hard to see why they will do anything to keep you engaged. But how do they do it?
Well, they spend billions of dollars carrying out social experiments and studying human behaviour and psyche. Social media algorithms use data points from user behaviour to curate and Rank content in our feeds. Basically, the moment you open a S.M. app, the algorithm starts working behind the scenes collecting data on the content that we are engaging with the most. Be it by Spending more time watching/reading the content, following, Commenting, Liking, sharing reposting, or any of those good stuff that content creators tell us to do. There are several techniques that algorithms use to form patterns that enable them to know what content to show you.
- Personalization of content -this is where they determine your interest depending on the content you interact with the most. They then recommend content that is inclined to those interests and that is how you end up going down the rabbit hole and creating an eco-chamber of sorts.
- Endless Scroll-in most social media platforms you don’t have to do much to navigate from one content to another. You just need to scroll endlessly. You wonder why? It’s not by default. It’s designed that way. Simple designs, and easy interactions, and that’s how you end up scrolling all the way down.
- Social Validation –it’s no secret we all want to feel validated so why not check those likes and sweet comments from strangers? I know it’s not healthy but deep down we like it. We also love having our biases confirmed, don’t we? So, we interact with content that confirms our biases whether they are true or not we feel so validated and would want to consume more of that which agrees with our mindset. There is a downside to that obviously where we end up being less open to new ideas.
- FOMO-some sometimes it’s not even anything serious just the fear of missing out on what going on around us that’s why we end up pushing that notification button on😃.
Dopamine Release –social media can lead to the release of the ‘feel good’ chemical in the brain and we all know what a dopamine rush can do. It can easily cause addiction.
My whole point is you need self-awareness if you want to have a healthy relationship with social media. There is life outside of your online bubble and need to know when to put your device down and have a walkout in nature. I know it’s funny and hypocritical am talking about content while bombarding it to you but hope I have made a point. You can have a Social media break after reading this 😛