Most feeds today are optimized for engagement. That makes sense from a business perspective, but it doesn’t really match how I actually want to use them.
Sometimes I want to go deep into a topic. Sometimes I want to see what people in my city are saying. Sometimes I want to understand opposing viewpoints.
But instead of letting me choose that, the system just keeps reinforcing what I’ve already interacted with. It feels less like exploration and more like being nudged into a loop.
After a while, discovery starts to feel narrow. You see more of the same, even when you don’t want to.
So I’ve been wondering, is the issue the algorithm itself, or the fact that users don’t really have control over it?
What would it look like if people could choose how their feed works instead of having it decided for them?
Curious how others here think about this.
PaulHoule•1h ago
A lot of people think chronological feed + boosting is “non-algorithmic” but I think that kind of feed privileges stuff that makes people get angry and boost. The same people would say the “explore” feed on Mastodon which shows the most boosted and liked content is wholesome too. I guess if you think being angry all the time is your moral responsibility you would. The rest of us wouldn’t.
To me a good algorithm would be: if OCR reveals text in an image make it disappear (usually the people are angry) if a video looks like an instagram reel with meaningless motion that causes motion sickness make it disappear. I don’t think everyone would agree!