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Arvind Narayanan Mar 9, 2023

For years I’ve felt there needs to be an accessible primer on social media recommendation algorithms. So I used my sabbatical to write one! We can level up normative/policy debates about social media if the tech is better understood.

In the essay I also discuss the flaws of engagement optimization and the optimization mindset in general. I have strong opinions on this and I don’t mince words. I’ve clearly separated the normative analysis from the expository parts.
https://knightcolumbia.org/content/understanding-social-media-recommendation-algorithms

Understanding Social Media Recommendation Algorithms | Knight First Amendment Institute

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Arvind Narayanan Mar 9, 2023

I introduce three stylized models of information propagation (subscription, network, algorithmic) and discuss how virality operates. Turning to algorithmic recommendations, I give a bit of history, an overview of the main modern ideas, and a case study of Facebook's Meaningful Social Interaction metric. But the major platforms’ algorithms are far more similar than they are different — they’re all flavors of engagement optimization — a point I previously made about TikTok. https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/tiktoks-secret-sauce

TikTok’s Secret Sauce

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Arvind Narayanan

I plan to publish two follow-up essays in a few months. I’m super grateful to
@knightcolumbia for the opportunity — this type of writing is hard to do because the traditional paper publication route isn’t available. I enjoyed writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it!