As social media algorithms evolve, users are becoming more aware of their influence on content feed dynamics. Instead of merely engaging with posts, users now understand their behavior - like lingering on a video or adjusting their watch history - directly influences algorithmic outputs. This has led to a situation where people alter their interactions intentionally to manage their feeds, aligning closely with concepts like the Hawthorne effect, which posits that awareness of observation changes how individuals act. The initial revolutionary aspect of algorithmic personalization may be losing its charm as users adapt their behavior to 'perform' for the system.
We've started to understand how the algorithm thinks. We might clear our watch history to reset our feed. We might even find ourselves clicking on content not because we necessarily want to watch it, but because we want to train the algorithm.
If you watch a reel for longer than three seconds you can expect more like it. If you linger on a photo, pause mid-scroll, replay a TikTok - that's the new like.
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