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Ask HN: What is the "Like" in a context of social network web-sites?

2 points eimrine | 1 comments | 18 May 25 06:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.214s | source

I teach math to a group of young kids who are too young to be introduced to a smartphone. They asked me what a "Like" is. I told them about the concept of "Internet Points", but I feel like I'm missing something, for example how likes affect the algorithmic feed (but there is a big chance they do not know what is the feed as well).

For example, HN has more than 1 kind of like: an upvote, a vote for the submission, and vouch action. But do you have a logic when to use them on HN and on other resources? Are there websites where "liking" something has a noticeable impact on the feed?

1. lwo32k ◴[18 May 25 06:41 UTC] No.44019459[source]▶
I just tell kids its like a library. There are more books than there is time for anyone to read them all. Then make them think up rules/ways to decide what to read. Its fun to watch them coming up with systems that end up being very similar to what the algos do.