The whole concept of ‘Algorithms’ (a procedure or formula for solving a recurrent computer science problem) might confuse a layman. It definitely confuses us sometimes. Algorithms are however the biggest ways through which Facebook has been tampering with your lives i.e. f**king you up!
Of course we’ve noticed that over time, these social networking platforms tend to show news/conversation feeds based on topics that an individual chooses most often. However, in recent times we’ve realised that these platforms have succeeded in cutting you off from every piece of content that it decides (based on ‘algorithms’) that you aren’t interested in.
Facebook for instance will show updates from the people you interact with more often, than from the people you don’t interact with. It doesn’t matter if that person is your friend or not, Facebook gets to decide if the person’s update is relevant to you or not. Yes Facebook gets to choose, not you.
This isn’t peculiar to Facebook alone, but to some other social platforms, and while it might not affect the price of fuel or tomatoes in the market, Sociologists are beginning to define it as a form of social control.
So be afraid, be very afraid…