Facebook’s newsfeed ranking tailors content exposure to each user’s predicted engagement
Evidence
Now remember that Facebook is a social network, so the amount of diverse or cross-cutting ideological content you are exposed to very much depends on who your friends are and what information your friends share. The key question is how the structure of your social network interacts with Facebook’s algorithmically ranked newsfeed. On Facebook, people often post news stories and Facebook’s algorithm is there to try to separate the wheat from the chaff for you: it ranks content according to what the algorithm thinks you might like to engage with. The algorithm takes many things into account, including how much time you spend on Facebook, how much you interact with certain friends, and what kind of links you typically click on in your feed. The newsfeed then provides a customized ranking for you: your personal newsfeed. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 418
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Individual choice shapes news exposure more than algorithmic filtering does — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 421; Facebook exposure diversity depends primarily on friendship-network structure — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 418; Social network structure, not algorithmic ranking, decides crosscutting exposure — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 423 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- The Facebook study’s assumption that choices are independent of algorithm exposure is shaky
#expands(0.82) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 422 - Individual choice shapes news exposure more than algorithmic filtering does
#contradicts(0.78) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 421 - Facebook exposure diversity depends primarily on friendship-network structure
#contradicts(0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 418 - Social network structure, not algorithmic ranking, decides crosscutting exposure
#contradicts(0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 423