If you are an avid TikTok user, you have probably, at this point, encountered a certain branch of TikTok. There is “Political TikTok,” “WitchTok,” “Alt TikTok,” “Straight TikTok,” and literally countless more. I often find myself scrolling for hours, and I will come across a video saying something along the lines of “Welcome to ____TikTok.” These videos are always related to something that interests me, without fail every time. Many people will makes jokes and videos about “the algorithm” and talk about it like it is not some hidden component to the app; the algorithm is spoken of like it is something we can see and something we have a say in.
Except we don’t have any say. It feels like we do, because the content we see is built and created around what we want to see. Many people even like the algorithm: whats not to love about content that is curated exactly to our interests? Regardless of if we love or hate the algorithm, we cannot escape it.
This isn’t only in play on TikTok; TikTok is just the first platform where the mass of people has become aware of it. This is partially because TikTok has shared how it works, but also because hours and hours of scrolling through 60 second videos makes it easy to see patterns for most users. It’s a lot harder to notice that there is an algorithm in control on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, where you are seeing algorithmic content that is mixed with content from people you know.
There are two main issues I have with social media algorithms. The first is what it is designed to do, the latter is the negative backlash that comes from the first.
The biggest issue with any algorithm is that it’s going to be designed to keep you on their platform. It tries to keep you online and connected for as long as possible. This has led to multiple generations of people addicted to social media, or at the very least overusing it. The latter issue is that this algorithm creates different individual streams of content for every person. The news that you get on Facebook has been tailored to you specifically so that you see what you want to see and continue to scroll for hours.
The problem lies in having completely different information compared to what the rest of the population has. 1 in 5 Americans gets the majority of their news from social media, and our algorithm cultivates what we see. If we as individuals indulge in and spend lots of time reading conspiracy theories, then we will see more conspiracies positing themselves as news on our social media feed. The biggest problem is the algorithm cannot identify what is a true news source and what is a fake news source– it only cares to show you what will keep you on their site for longer. This way social media sites can continue to make money off of the advertisements that they sell.
Advertising is what it’s all about. That’s how these platforms make money, and the algorithm that keeps us on social media platforms for long periods of time and leaves us constantly wanting to come back for more helps make even more money. Social media is free because we are the product that is being sold to the advertisers. The advertisers are buying our time from the platform, and our high social media use just proves how easily our time can be bought.
Mikayla Rochelle is a senior studying strategic communication at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Mikayla by tweeting her at @mikayla_roch.
