The Algorithm Wants You to be Angry

My friend brought up a conversation we had back on the Twitters. “The Algorithm just wants us to be angry, or hurt, or emotional so we engage.”

For people that had been on Twitter for a long time, it stopped being fun. Twitter at its best was where you met smart people, fun people and fun smart people. At its worst… Well. No one needs to describe that.

I’ve only been on Counter.Social for a few days, (@Catelli@counter.social account since deleted) but the difference in the social vibe is striking. Even taking in the default “Community Firehose” which offers every post by every user in a constant stream. It’s… calmer. Even after the reaction to the recent news about the US Supreme Court leaked decision about Roe v. Wade it is… calmer.

I was pondering this difference, and Cow’s comments made the contrast brighter. The nagging thought in the back of my mind is that Counter.Social might be more pleasant to use right now because the community is so small, and that community is mostly made up of people frustrated with Twitter. If the community grows, will the problems that exist on other social media platforms come to Counter.Social? How much of it is the platform, the code, and how much of it is the people? In other words… What if we are the Algorithm?

There is a marked difference in how we engage with each other through digital tools and in person. Remote workers don’t interact with each other the same way people in the same office do. In a work environment, perhaps these challenges are easier to overcome because the job provides a common goal. You’re all working for the same company, and you don’t want to get fired. But there’s still a nuance lost that a congenial physical office environment provides. (Granted, if your work environment is hostile and stress filled, this congeniality will be suffocated.)

On Social Media, perhaps the physical distance is part of the problem, especially on a text only platform, where nuance and tone are hard to communicate. There is no twinkle in the eye, slight smirk of the mouth, hand gestures and the like that we use to communicate cues to each other. Digital communications have their own “uncanny valley” that hinders empathy and sympathy and friendliness. There’s a cold and unfeeling aspect that amplifies the negative and hurtful emotions.

Over time, many of us learn when not to hit send, when to not engage because we lack the means to do so successfully armed only with a keyboard. And my instinct is these are the people that largely inhabit Counter.Social right now.

There’s an experiment happening here. If Counter.Social grows and shows the same combative rage posting, name calling, shaming and other ills then we will know the truth.

We are the problematic Algorithm. And it’s not the platform that needs fixing.