PEAK MEDIA MARKETING

Algorithms - do they work like the universe

(on a very karma like and spiritual level)?

Algorithms - do they work like the universe (on a very karma like and spiritual level)?

In 2024 our lives are very much steered by algorithms, they determine the content we see on search engines and social media channels and also in television advertising because of technology like Sky Adsense.

But what exactly is an algorithm and how do they work?

What's the origin of the word algorithm?

Well it has nothing to do with the former Vice President of the United States of America playing the drums. (Groan!)

The term algorithm is derived from the name of Muhammad ibn Mūsā al'Khwārizmī, a ninth-century Persian mathematician.

His latinised name, Algoritmi, meant “the decimal number system” and was used in this meaning for centuries.

What is an algorithm?

Quite simply, an algorithm is a series of instructions designed to solve a problem,

What does an algorithm do for social media content?

Well first of all it determines what content gets served and in what order.

This is to meet specific goals whether that is to ensure that you return to the website or the channel every day or whether that is to ensure that you are more likely to engage with the content - to like, to comment or to share.

How is an algorithm like the universe?

It’s also endlessly vast and indifferent to what you actually like and will serve you more of what you engage with because you are training the algorithm to give you more of what you respond to and engage with.

So (on a very karma like and spiritual level) if you respond to unicorns and kittens then the internet, like the world will be a wonderful place with happiness and sunshine and rainbows everywhere you look

“If you smile at the universe, the universe smiles back”

How can we change what we see on social media?

Because of the indifference of the algorithm, then as well as it determining what you DO see.. By default that means that it also determines what you don’t!

So imagine that the world wide web (like the universe) is a bit like a shop counter with just a few things it thinks you’ll be most likely to buy displayed out front, and a lot more different stuff in the back storeroom.

You just haven’t told the shop keeper that you didn’t like those things because your actions and choices suggested otherwise.

And you also didn’t ask for anything else so it did the best it could for you as it honestly thought that is what you would like best.

Algorithms are also a bit like the sorting hat from the Harry Potter books, it has a purpose to sort and categorise you into demographics and avatars, to place you in a house best suited to you personally and once you are in that particular house, it serves the content that it assumes you want to be served.

A bit like the universe if you believe in karma, really.

So what can we do to change the content we are served?

Tip #1 - Adjust your feed preferences

By checking through your feed preferences you can ensure that you have ticked all the right options so that you can choose what your favourites are and this will prioritise posts and serve them above posts that are not so preferential for you.

You can also block and reconnect with people and also take a short break from them if they are getting a bit much and you need to distance yourself from whatever content it is they are putting out that is spoiling your vibe online.

You can also manage your reaction preferences to control whether the total number of reactions is visible on your posts or posts from other people as well as to ensure that content that is reduced, or moved lower in your Feed.

For Facebook Feed Preferences - check out

https://www.facebook.com/help/964154640320617/?helpref=hc_fnav

Tip #2 - Turn off Recommendations

Whenever you find a post that is “recommended for you” this is the algorithm at work, doing it’s algorithmic thing.

It can only serve this based on your past activity and if you are on a journey of discovery and self improvement then whatever happened before today is so yesterday!

Whenever you see one of these, go to the three dots in the top right corner of the post and select “Hide Post”

This way you are realigning the algorithm to what you want and don’t want to be served on social media.

Tip #3 - Don’t click. Search Around.

You don’t have to click on things that are there to get a rise out of you. Whether it be a post about sports or politics or religion or some other subject matter that hosts a variety of opinions (and no two of us are exactly the same) then you don’t have to click on it and you don’t have to have every fight that someone wants to start with you. If all you can see in your feed is lacking in the good stuff (like unicorns and sunshine and star stuff, of which we are all made, by the way) then search around and find something that is more akin to good vibes and remember

When you smile at the world, it really does smile back.