A New Way to Think About the Algorithms Behind Social Media

With the large number of people connecting around the globe, online communities and networks are a big part of social media culture. It’s vital to understand these communities, and the opportunities and challenges they present. Whether online or offline, communicating persuasively is crucial to inspiring and motivating others, and a requirement when leading a diverse — and often dispersed — workforce.

Find out about the forces that drive social media algorithms with Ben Shields, Faculty Director in the MIT Sloan School of Management Interpersonal Communication online short course.

Transcript

Understanding the algorithms behind social media communication

I have spent years thinking about trying to decode the algorithm that defined what content you see in your social media feed. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, many of these platforms use algorithms to surface the content in your feed. They’re making a determination that, “Hey, based on your behavior and your interests, this is the content that you might have seen.”

For communicators, it actually presents some really interesting challenges. It’s pretty easy for me to get my message across to people. The way that algorithms work, specifically on social communication technologies, is that: I may be the communicator, you may be the audience, but the algorithm is the broker between me getting my message through the algorithm to you. And so we really need to understand this broker. The algorithm, in many ways, is the primary audience. You’ve got to understand how the algorithm thinks, types of content that it likes, in order for me to get my message across to you.

Three steps to persuading algorithms

Know the objective of the algorithm

The first step is to understand the objective of the algorithm or what we might call ‘what’s in it for the algorithm?’ And we have to remember that algorithms just aren’t this computer creation, right. Humans create them. So an easy example is a Facebook newsfeed algorithm. We know what Facebook’s business model is, which is to monetize through advertising. So that algorithm is designed to keep people on the platform for as long as possible.

Tailor content to the algorithm

Step two is, once you understand sort of what the algorithm’s objectives are, how it works, then you’ve got to be able to tailor your content to that algorithm. There was a time where Facebook really liked comments. They wanted your content to incite comments on the platform. Today, the video content on the platform is of highest priority. Okay. So if you want to reach your audience on Facebook, using video as a simple example, is one way to tailor your content to meet the needs of the algorithm.

Evaluate your feedback

The final step in terms of persuading algorithms is trying to get some feedback on whether or not your message is successful. This sounds like a type of evaluation. It absolutely is. And in these types of circumstances, you often have data to tell you what’s working and what isn’t. We don’t know exactly how the algorithm works, but we can make some inferences on whether or not our content is resonating with our audiences based on the data that we’re getting back.