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Bluesky is ushering in a pick-your-own algorithm era of social media

(www.newscientist.com)
190 points amichail | 1 comments | 20 Nov 24 12:59 UTC | HN request time: 0.27s | source
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giancarlostoro ◴[20 Nov 24 14:51 UTC] No.42194385[source]▶
I really dont understand why we cannot just go back to chronological as a default. This is how I use X/Twitter, and anything else that lets me just go chronological.
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sameoldtune ◴[20 Nov 24 14:54 UTC] No.42194402[source]▶
I agree, but some people use social media to follow 1000s of other users. Some kind of “hot right now” or “high engagement since you last logged on” setting might be nice for them.
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garciasn ◴[20 Nov 24 14:58 UTC] No.42194442[source]▶
I think it's super interesting you believe the social companies care about what is 'nice for the user' as opposed to what is nice for the advertisers, audience/data brokers, and the investors.

The reason algorithmic ordering is so common is because that's what gives the most runway for advertising, behavior manipulation/tracking, and its downstream financial effects.

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1. jt_b ◴[20 Nov 24 15:03 UTC] No.42194494[source]▶
The pattern can be useful for multiple parties, for different reasons, some nefarious. Some users are definitely interested in higher "signal" content, especially when you follow enough accounts that consuming even a small fraction of the content isn't feasible.